
Author 



Title 



Imprint. 



1G — 47379-8 Ol»o 



TH E 



EARLY HISTORY 



O F 



LORAIN COUNTY. 



AN 



ADDRESS 



BY 



W. W. BOYNTON, 

DELIVERED 

JULY 4, 1876, AT ELY III A, OHIO. 



ISSUED BY 
LOB'AtS COUNTS AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Fisher d- Smith 6 , Printers, Elyriit, 0. 



Ml 7 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BY 



W. W. BOY1STTOK, 

ON 

JULY 4, 1876, 

AT 

ELYEIA, O. 



Fellow Citizens. — 

In 1748, an Eminent French Writer 
informed his readers that a prosperous 
and Great People, having the form of a 
free government, was forming and 
rising in the very forests of America, 
which they were sent forth to inhabit. 
One Hundred years ago to-day, that 
great people, cutting loose from the 
restraints of foreign domination, de- 
clared that the United Colonies were, 
and of right ought to be, free and inde- 
pendent States: an utterance involving 
immense and weighty responsibilities. 
That all men were entitled to life and 
liberty, and to engage in those pursuits 
that were calculated to secure their 
prosperity and happiness; that govern- 
ments instituted among men derived 
their just powers from the consent of 
the governed, were propositions both 
self-evident and self-vindicating, and 
found the public mind of the Colonists, 
not only prepared to yield a ready 
assent to the principles involved in 
them, but to give battle for their estab- 
lishment upon the American Continent. 



It is not my purpose to undertake to 
explore, or trace, the causes which led 
to the declaration of Independence, and 
to a pledge of life, fortune, and sacred 
honor in its support; nor to follow the 
glorious history of the past hundred 
years, and note the progress and march 
of a civilization purely American, and 
the advancement of a people whose rise 
and growth, whose ascent into a higher 
National life, have been the marvel of 
the world, and unequalled in its history. 
Interesting and appropriate as this 
would be to the day and occasion, I 
am expected to occupy a narrower field, 
and confine myself to an historical 
account of the settlement and growth 
of our immediate neighborhood, to 
which, for a short time, I bespeak your 
patience. 

In 1G09, James the First granted to a 
company called the London Company, 
a charter under which the entire claim 
of Virginia to the soil northwest of the 
Ohio was asserted. It was clothed with 
corporate power, witli most of its mem- 
bers residing in the city of London. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



The tract of country embraced within 
this charter was immense. It com- 
menced its houndaries at Point Comfort, 
On the Atlantic, and run south two 
hundred miles, and thence west across 
the continent to the Pacific; com- 
mencing again at Port Comfort, and 
running two hundred miles north, and 
from tli is point northwest to the sea. 
This line run through New York and 
Pennsylvania. crossing the eastern end 
of Lake Erie, and terminated in the 
Arctic Ocean. The vast empire lying 
between the south line, the east line, 
the diagonal line to the northwest, and 
the Pacific Ocean, was claimed by 
virtue of this charter. It included over 
half of the Xorth American Continent. 
Notwithstanding the charter ot the 
London Company included all the ter- 
ritory now embraced within the bound- 
aries of Ohio, James the First, on the 
3d of November, 1620, by Royal Letters 
Patent, granted to the Duke of Lenox 
and others, to be known as the Council 
of Plymouth, all the territory lying 
between the fortieth and forty-eighth 
degrees of north latitude, and bounded 
on the east by the Atlantic, and on the 
west by the Pacific. This description 
embraced a large tract of the lands 
granted to the Virginia or London 
Company. In 1630, a portion of the 
Same territory was granted to the Earl 
of Warwick, and afterwards confirmed 
to him by Charles the First. En 1631, 
the Council of Plymouth, acting by the 
Earl of Warwick, granted to Lord 
Brook and Viscounts, Say and Seal, 

what were supposed to be the same 

lands, although by a very impertect 
description. In 1662, Charles the. 
Second granted a charter to nineteen 
patentees, with such associates as they 
should from time to time elect. This 
association was made a body corporate 
and politic, by the name of the Governor 
and Company of the English Colony of 

Connecticut. This charter constituted 
the organic law of the State for upwards 
of one hundred and fifty years. The 
boundaries were Massachusetts on the 
north, the sea on the south, Xaragan- 
gett river or Bay on the east, and the 



South Sea on the west. The Pacific 
Ocean was ai thai time called the South 
Sea. This description embraced a strip 
of land upwards of sixty miles wide, 
Stretching from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, including a part of New York 
and New Jersey, and all the territory 
now known as the Western Reserve. 

In 1681, for the consideration of 
16,000 pounds, and a fealty of two 
heaver skin- a year, Charles the Second 
granted to William Penn a charter em- 
bracing within its limits the territory 
constituting the present State of 
Pennsylvania. This grant included a 
strip of territory running across the 
entire length of the State mi the north, 
and upwards of fifty miles wide, that 
was embraced within the Connecticut 
charter. .Massachusetts, under the 
Plymouth charter, claimed all land 
between the forty-first and forty-fifth 
degrees of north latitude. In 1064, 
Charles the Second ceded to his brother, 
the Duke of York, afterwards .lames the 
Second, by Letters Patent, all the 
country between tin' St. Croix and the 
Delaware. After the overthrow of the 
Government of " Xew Netherlands," 
then existing upon that territory, it 
was claimed that the grant to the Duke 
of York extended west into the Missis- 
sippi Valley. 

Thus matters stood at the commence- 
ment of the Revolution. \ irginia 
claimed all territory northwest of the 
Ohio. Connecticut strenuously urged 
her title to all land lying between the 
parallels 11 and 42 deg. 2 mill, of north 
latitude from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
Pennsylvania, under the charter of 

1681, had taken possession of the dis- 
puted land lying in that State, and had 
granted much of it to actual settler-. 
New York and Massachusetts were 
equally emphatic in the assertion of 
ownership to land between those lines 
of latitude. The contention between 
claimants under the Connecticut and 
Pennsylvania charters, on the Susque- 
hanna, frequently resulted in blood- 
shed. The controversy between those 
two States was finally submitted to a 
Court of Commissioners appointed by 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



3 



Congress, upon the petition of Penn- 
sylvania, under the ninth article of the 
Confederation, which gave Congress 
power to establish a Court of Com- 
missioners to settle disputed boundaries, 
between States, in ease of disagreement. 
The Court decided in favor of Pennsyl- 
vania, and this decision terminated the 
controversy. The question of the title 
to lands lying west of Pennsylvania was 
not involved in this adjudication, but 
remained a subject for future conten- 
tion. A party sprung up during the 
war, that disputed the title of the 
States asserting it, to lands outside of 
State limits, and which insisted upon 
the right of the States by whose common 
treasure dominion was to be secured, to 
participate in the benefits and results 
arising from the joint and common 
effort for independence. This party 
was particularly strong in the smaller 
States. Those colonies that had not- 
been the favored recipients of extensive 
land grants, were little inclined to 
acquiesce in claims, the justice of which 
they denied, and which could be secured 
to the claimants only by the success of 
the Kevolution. 

The convention that assembled in 
1777 to frame a constitution for the 
State of Maryland, unanimously re- 
solved that the very extensive claim of 
Virginia to the back lands had no 
foundation in justice, and that to 
acknowledge the claim would greatly 
endanger the liberties of the people; 
and in 1778, she called the attention of 
Congress to the matter, and made a 
relinquishment to the United States, of 
the claims of the individual States to the 
Western lands, a condition upon which, 
and upon which only, she would join 
the Confederation. She insisted as the 
whole people were engaged in a com- 
mon cause, having a common end in 
view — the achievement of national 
independence — that, if the outcome 
should secure to the country the vast 
domain stretching from the Alleghanies 
to the Mississippi, it should become the 
common property of those by whose 
united labors it was thus secured. 

Added to these embarrassments, the 



claiming States encountered a denial of 
their title to some of the lands claimed, 
emanating from the very source from 
which they were supposed to have 
derived it. George the Third, either 
repudiating the charters of his Ro} r aI 
Predecessors, or rejecting the con- 
struction placed upon them in respect 
to their boundaries, in October, 1763,, 
upon the heel of the Treaty of Paris, 
issued his proclamation forbidding all 
persons from intruding upon, or dis- 
turbing the Indians in the enjoyment 
of, their lands, in the valley of the Ohio. 

There is little doubt that the conflict 
in the early charters respecting bound- 
aries grew out of the ignorance of the 
times in which they were granted, as 
to the breadth, or inland extent, of the 
American Continent. During the reign 
of James the First, Sir Francis Drake 
reported, that, from the top of the 
mountains on the Isthmus of Panama, 
he had seen both oceans. This led to 
the supposition that the continent, from 
east to west, was of no considerable 
extent, and that the South Sea, by 
winch the grants were limited on the 
west, did not lie very fur from the 
Atlantic; and as late as 1740, the Duke 
of Newcastle addressed his letters to 
tiie " Island of New England." Hence 
it was urged as an argument against the 
claims of those States asserting title 
to Western lands, that the call in the 
grants, of the South Sea, being, by 
mutual mistake of the parties to the 
charter, an erroneous one — the error 
resulting from misinformation or want 
of certainty concerning the locality of 
that Sea — the claiming States ought not 
to insist upon an ownership resting 
upon such a footing, and having its 
origin in such a circumstance. Popular 
feeling on the subject ran so high, at 
times, as to cause apprehension for the 
safety of the Confederation. In 1780, 
Congress urged upon the States having 
claims to the Western country, the duty 
to make a surrender of a part thereof to 
the United States. 

The debt incurred in the Revolu- 
tionary contest, i he limited resources 
for its extinguishment if the public 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



domain was unavailable for the purpose, 
the existence <>f the unhappy contro- 
versy growing out of the asserted 
claims, and an earnest desire to accom- 
modate and pacify conflicting interests 
among the States, led Congress in 1784, 
to an impressive appeal to the Slates 
interested, to remove all cause for 
further discontent, by a liberal Cession 
of their domains to the general Gov- 
ernment, for the common benefit of all 
the States. The happy termination of 
the war found the public mind in a 
condition to be easily impressed by 
appeals to its patriotism and liberality. 
New York had in 1780, ceded to the 
United States the lands that she claimed 
lying west of a line running south from 
the west bend of Lake Ontario; and in 
17*~>, Massachusetts relinquished her 
claim to the same lands — each State 
reserving the same 19,000 square miles 
of ground, and each asserting an inde- 
pendent title to it. This controversy 
tut ween the two States was settled by 
an equal division between them of the 
disputed ground. Virginia had given 
to her soldiers of the Revolutionary 
war, ami of the war between France 
and England, a pledge of bounties, 
payable in Western lands; and reserv- 
ing a sufficient amount of land to enable 
her to meet the pledge thus given, on 
the 1st of March, 1784, she relinquished 
to the United States her title to all 
other lands lying northwest of the < >hio. 
The lands reserved north of the Ohio 
lay between the Scioto and Little 
Miami, and constitute what is known as 
the Virginia Military District. On the 
14th <lay of September, 17S<i, the dele- 
gates in Congress from the State of 
Connecticut, being authorized and di- 
rected so to do, relinquished to the 

United States all the right, title, 
interest, jurisdiction, and claim, that 
she possessed i<> the land- lying wesl of 
a line running north from the list deg. 
of north latitude to 12 d<'<r. and 2 min., 
and being one hundred and twenty 
miles west of the western line of Penn- 
sylvania. The territory lying west of 
Pennsylvania for the distance of one 
hundred and twenty miles, and between 



latitude 41 and 42 deg. 2 min. north, 
although not in terms reserved by the 
instrument of conveyance, was in fact 
reserved — not having been conveyed — 
and by reason thereof was called the 
Western Regi rve of Connecticut. It 
embraces the counties of Ashtabula, 
Trumbull, Portage, Geauga, Lake. 
Cuyahoga, Medina, Lorain, Huron, 
Erie, all of Summit except the township 
of Franklin, and Green; the two 
northern tiers of townships of Mahon- 
ing; the townships of Sullivan, Troy, 
and Ruggles, of Ashland; and the 
islands lying north of Sandusky, in- 
cluding Kelley's and Put-in-Bay. In 
17'.i"), Connecticut sold and conveyed all 
of the Reserve except the " Sufferer's 
Land, " to Oliver Phelps and thirty- 
five others, for the consideration of 
$1,200,000. These purchasers formed 
themselves into a company called the 
Connecticut Land Company. Some 
uneasiness concerning the validity of 
the title, arose from the fact that what- 
ever interest Virginia, Massachusetts, 
or New York may have had in the lands 
reserved, and claimed by Connecticut, 
had been transferred to the United 
States, and if neither of the claiming 
States had title, the dominion and 
ownership passed to the United States 
by the treaty made with England at the 
close of the Revolution. This condition 
of things was not the only source of 
difficulty and trouble. The Reserve 
was so far from Conuecticut,as to make 
it impracticable for that State to extend 
her laws over the same, or ordain new 
ones for the government of the inhabi- 
tants; and having parted with all 
interest in the soil, her right to provide 
laws for the people was not only 
doubted but denied. Congress bad 

provided by the ordinance of 17*7, for 
the government of the territory north- 
west of the Ohio; but to adm it juris- 
diction in the United State- to govern 
this part of that territory, would cast 
grave doubt upon the validity of the 
company's title. It was therefore 
insisted that the regulations prescribed 
by that instrument for the government 
of the Northwest Territory, had no 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



operation or effect within the limits of 
the Reserve. To quiet apprehension, 
and to remove all cause of anxiety on 
the subject, Congress on the 28th of 
April, 1800, authorized the President to 
execute and deliver on the part of the 
United States, Letters Patent to the 
Governor of Connecticut, whereby the 
United States released for the uses 
named, all right and title to the soil of 
the Reserve, and confirmed it unto those 
who had purchased it from that State. 
The execution and delivery, however, 
of the Letters Patent were upon the con- 
dition that Connecticut should forever 
renounce and release to the United 
States, entire and complete civil juris- 
diction over the territory released. This 
condition was accepted, and thereupon 
Connecticut transferred her jurisdiction 
to the United States, and the United 
States released her claim and title to 
the soil; and thus, while jurisdiction 
for purposes of government was vested 
in the United States, a complete title 
to the soil, in so far as the States could 
give it, was transmitted to the Con- 
necticut Laud Company and to those 
who had purchased from it. While 
this controversy was going on, there 
was another Contestant in the field, 
having the advantage of actual occu- 
pancy, and in no wise inclined to 
recognize a title adverse to his, nor 
yield, upon mere invitation, apossession 
so long enjoyed. This Contestant was 
the Indian. During the. war between 
France and England, which terminated 
in 1703, the Indians espoused the cause 
of the French. They entered into an 
alliance with them, and joined in their 
battles. At the close of that war, the 
Mississippi was agreed upon, by the 
Treaty of Paris, as the boundary 
between the British and French pos- 
sessions in America. The claim of 
France to the domain lying east of the 
Mississippi, was surrendered to Eng- 
land. Soon after the close of the Revo- 
lution, the United States sought by 
peaceable means to acquire the title 
from the Indians, to the lands north- 
west of the Ohio; and on the 21st of 
January, 1785, concluded a treaty, at 



Fort Mcintosh, with four of the Indian 
nations or tribes. These were the 
VVyandots, Delawares, Chippewas, and 
Ottawas. The section of country 
between the Cuyahoga and Maumee 
seemed to belong to the Wyandots ; the 
region a little farther south, and 
comprising the section between the 
Muskingum and the Ohio, to the 
Delawares. By this treaty, the Cuyahoga, 
and the portage between it and the Tus- 
carawas, were agreed upon as the bound- 
ary on the Reserve, between the United 
States and the Wyandot and Delaware 
nations. All east of the Cuyahoga, was, 
in effect, ceded to the United States. 
The Indians soon became dissatisfied, 
and refused to adhere to the terms of 
the treaty. Instead of resorting to arms to 
enforce its obligations, the United States 
entered into further negotiations with 
them; and on the 9th of January, A. D. 
1789, another treaty was concluded at 
Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Mus- 
kingum, between Arthur St.Clair, acting 
for the United States, and the Wyandot, 
Delaware, Chippewa, Pottowatoma, 
and Sac nations. By this treaty the 
boundary line agreed upon by the 
treaty of Fort Mcintosh was renewed 
and confirmed, and for the sum of 
$6,000 to be paid in goods, the Indians, 
among other lands, relinquished those 
lying east of the Cuyahoga, to the 
United States. The consideration 
agreed upon was paid. 

But a short time, however, elapsed 
before the Indians, with characteristic 
disregard of their promises, refused to 
submit to the obligations of the new 
treaty. They reasserted their title to 
the lands conveyed*. They declared that 
both treaties were made, and their 
assent to them obtained, under the men- 
ace and constraint of the guns of the 
forts; and, therefore, were not binding 
upon them — a conclusion necessarily 
following if the premises were true. The 
Government employed every effort to 
conciliite them, and to secure their 
observance of their engagements. 
Peaceful means failing, resort was had 
to arms. At first the Indians were suc- 
cessful in their resistance. Generals 



HISTORICAL ADD1 1 ESS 



llarmar and St. (lair, who successively 
encountered them, were drawn into 
ambush, and defeated with great 
slaughter. General Wayne, in 1795, 
with a force of 3500 men, met the com- 
bined forces of the Indians on the 
Miami of the Lake, now the Maumee, 
and after a sanguinary conflict, gained 
a decisive victory. Nearly every chief 
was -lain. The spirit of the Indians 
being completely broken by their un- 
expected defeat in tins contest, they 
met Genera] Wayne in council, and the 
result was the Treaty of Greenville. 
This treaty was made between the 
United States and the WyandotS, Dela- 
ware-, Sbawanoes, < !hippewas,< >ttawas, 
Pattawatimas. Miami-, Eel Rivers, 
Weas, Kickapoos, Piankishaws and 
Kaskaskias. The Indians, submitting 
to imperative necessity, again yielded 
their claim to the lands east of the 
Cuyahoga, and make no further effort 
to regain them, it, however, for them, 
was a trying hour. Brought to realize 
that they must quit forever their hunt- 
ing grounds, both memorable and 
sacred to them for the pleasures they had 
afforded, their bravest and best slain on 
the field of battle, they threw them- 
selves upon the ground and bitterly 
wept, giving unrestrained expression 
to the wildest grief. 

The Cuyahoga river, and the portage 
between it and the Tuscarawas, as 
between the United State- and the In- 
dian.-, constituted the western bound- 
ary of the I nited States, upon the 
Reserve, until July 4, 1805. On that 
day, a treaty was made at Fort Industry 
with the chiefs and warriors of the 
Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Munsee, 
Delaware, Shawanoee and Pattawatima 
nations, by which the Indian title to 
all the lands of the Reserve lying west 
of the Cuyahoga, was extinguished. 
By this treaty all the lands lying be- 
tween the Cuyahoga and the Meridian, 
one hundred and twenty miles west of 
Pennsylvania, were ceded by the In- 
dians for $20,000 in goods, and a per- 
petual annuity of $9,500, payable in 
goods at first cost. And although this 
annuity remains unpaid, h< u-ause there 



is no one to claim it, the title to the 
land on the Reserve, west of that river, 
was forever set at rest. 

During the Revolution, the British, 
aided by Benedict Arnold, made incur- 
sion- into the heart of Connecticut, and 
destroyed a large amount of property 
in the towns of Greenwich, Norwalk, 
Fairfield, Danbury, New and East 
Haven, New London, Richfield and 
Grot on. There were upwards of 2,000 
persons and families that sustained 
^■Yt'vn looses b} r the depredations of the 
enemy. On the 10th of May, 1792, the 
Legislature of that State set apart and 
donated to the suffering inhabitants of 
these towns, 500,000 acres of the west 
part of the lands of the Reserve, to com- 
pensate them for the losses sustained. 
These lands were to be bounded north 
by the shore of Lake Erie, south by the 
base line of the Reserve, west 
by its western line, and east by a 
line parallel with the western line of 
Pennsylvania, and so far from the west 
line of the Reserve, as to include with- 
in the described limits the 500,000 acres. 
These are the lands now embraced 
within the counties of Huron and Erie,, 
and the township of Ruggles, in Ash- 
land county. The Islands were not in- 
cluded. The lands so given were called 
" Sufferer's Lands," and those to whom 
given, were in 1796, by the Legislature 
of Connecticut, incorporated by the 
name of the " Proprietors of the half 
million acres of land lying south of 
Lake Erie." After Ohio had become 
an independent State, this foreign cor- 
poration was not found to work well 
here, not being subject to her laws, and 
to relieve the owners of all embarrass- 
ment, on the 15th ot April, 1803, the 
Legislature of this State, conferred cor- 
porate power on the owners and pro- 
prietors of the " Half million acres of 
land lying south of Lake Erie," in the 
county of Trumbull, called "Sufferer's 
Land." An account of the losses of 
the inhabitants had been taken in 
pounds, shillings and pence, and a price 
placed upon the lands, and each of the 
sufferers received land proportioned to 
the extent of his loss. These land s 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



subsequently took the name of " Fire 
Lands," from the circumstance that the 
greater part of the losses suffered re- 
sulted from lire. 

I have already mentioned the fact 
that, alter this dedication to the 
sufferers, and in 1795, Connecticut sold 
the remainder of the lands of the 
Western Reserve, to a company, know 
as the Connecticut Land Company, for 
$1,200,000. The subscription to the 
purchase fund, ranged from $1,(383, by 
Sylvanus Griswold, to $168,185, by 
Oliver Phelps. Each dollar subscribed 
to this fund entitled the subscriber to 
one twelve hundred thousandth part in 
common, and undivided, of the land 
purchased. Having acquired the title, 
the company, in the following spring, 
commenced to survey the territory lying 
east of the Cuyahoga; and during the 
years of 1796 and 1797, completed it. 
The first surveying party arrived at 
Conneaught, in New Connecticut, 
eighty years ago to-day, and proceeded 
at once to celebrate the twentieth anni- 
versary of American Independence 
There were fifty persons in the party, 
under the lead of General Moses Cleave- 
land, of Canterbury, Conn. There will 
be found h. Whittlesey's Earlv His- 
tory of Cleveland, an extract from the 
journal, of Cleaveland, describing the 
particulars of the celebration. Among 
other things noted by him, was the fol- 
lowing: "The day, memorable as the 
birthday of American Independence, 
and freedom from British tyranny, and 
commemorated by all good, free born 
sons of America, and memorable as the 
day on which the settlement of this new 
country was commenced, and (which) 
in time may raise her head among the 
most enlightened and improved States." 
A prophecy already more than fulfilled. 
I shall occupy but a few moments upon 
the particulars of the survey. The point, 
where the 41st degree of north latitude 
intersected the western line of Pennsyl- 
vania was found, and from this degree 
of latitude, as a base, Meridian lines, 
five miles apart, were run north to the 
lake. Lines of latitude were then run, 
five miles apart, thus dividing the terri- 



tory into townships five miles square. 

It was not until after the treat}' of 
Fort Industry, in 1805, that the lands 
lying west of the Cuyhoga were sur- 
veyed. The meridians and parallels 
were run in 1806, by A. Tappen and 
his assistants. The base and western 
lines of the Reserve were run by Seth 
Pease for the Government. The ranges 
of townships were numbered progres- 
sively west, from the western boundary 
of Pennsylvania. The first tier of town- 
ships, running north and south, lying 
along the border of Pennsylvania, is 
range Xo. 1, the adjoining tier west, is 
range Xo. 2, and so on throughout the 
twenty-four ranges. The townships 
lying next north of the 41st parallel of 
latitude in each range, is township Xo. 
1 of that range. The township next 
north, is Xo. 2, and so on progressively 
to the lake. Ridgeville being in the 
sixteenth tier of townships from the 
Pennsylvania line, and in the sixth tier 
from the base line of the Reserve, is 
township Xo. 6, in range Xo. 16. Wel- 
lington is township Xo. 3, in range IS. 
Elyria township Xo. 6, in range 17. It 
was supposed that there were 4,000,000 
acres of land between Pennsylvania and 
the Fire lands. If the supposition had 
proved true, the land would have cost 
thirty cents per acre. As it resulted, 
there were less than 3,000,000 acres. 
The miscalculation arose from the mis- 
taken assumption that the south shore 
of Lake Erie bore more nearly west 
than it does; and also from a mistake 
made in the length of the east and west 
line. 

The distance, west from the Pennsyl- 
vania line, surveyed in 1796-7, was only 
fifty-six miles. That survey ended at 
the Tuscarawas river. To reach the 
western limit of the Reserve, a distance 
of sixty- four miles was to be made. 
Abraham Tappen and Anson Sessions 
entered into an agreement with the 
Land company, in 1805, to complete the 
survey of the lands between the Firo 
Lands and the Cuyahoga. This they 
did in 1806; and from the width of 
range 19, the range embracing the 
townships of Brownhelm, Henrietta, 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



< lamden, Brighton, Rochester and Troy, 
it is very evident that the distance from 

the east to the west line of the Reserve 
is less than 120 miles. This tier ol 
townships is gore shaped, and is much 
less than the miles wide, circum- 
stances leading the company to divide 
all south of Brownhelm into tracts, and 
Use it for purposes of equalization. 
The west line of range 19, from north 
to south, "as originally run, bears to 
the west, and between it and range 20, 
as indicated on the map, there is a strip 
of hind, also gore shaped, that was left 
in the first instance unsurveyed, the 
surveyors not knowing the exact; where 
abouts of the eastern line of the " hall 
million acres" belonging to the 
sufferers. In 1800, Amos Spafford, of 
Cleveland, and Almon Ruggles, ol 
Huron, were agreed on by the two 
companies to ascertain and locate the 
line Detween the Fire Lands and the 
lands of the Connecticut Company. 
They first surveyed oil" the " half mil- 
lion acres " belonging to the Sufferers, 
and not agreeing with Seth Pease, who 
had run out the base and west line, a 
dispute arose between the two com- 
panies, which was finally adjusted 
before the draft, by establishing the 
eastern line of the Fire Lands where 
it now is. Tins left a strip of land east 
of tiie Fire Lands, called surplus lands, 
which was included in range 1!), and 
is embraced in the western tier of town- 
ships of Lorain county. The mode ol 
dividing the land among the purchasers 
was a little peculiar, although evidently 
just. An equalizing committee accom- 
panied the surveyors, to make such ob- 
servations and take such not.s of the 
character of the townships, as would ena- 
ble I hem to grade them intelligently, and 
make a just estimate and equalization 
of there value. The amount of til 
purchase money was divided into 10 
share-, of 3,000 a share. Certificate* 
were issued to each owner, showing 
him to he entitled to such proportion ol 
tin- entire land, a- the amount he paid, 
bore to the purchase price of the whole. 
Four townships of the greatest value 
were first selected from that part of the 



Western Reserve, to which the Indian 
title had been extinquished, and were 
divided into lots. Each township was 
divided into not less than 100 lots. The 
number of lots that the four townships 
were divided into, would at least equal 
the 400 shares, or a lot to a share, and 
each person, or company of persons, en- 
titled to one or more shares of the 
Reserve — each share being one four 
hundredth part of the Reserve — was 
allowed to participate in the draft that 
was determined upon for tin; division 
of the joint property. The committee 
appointed to select the four most valua- 
ble townships for such division, was 
directed to proceed to select of the 
remaining townships, a sufficient num- 
ber, and of the best quality and greatest 
value, to be used lor equalizing pur- 
poses. After this selection was made, 
they were to select the best remaining 
township, and this township was the 
one, to the value of which all others 
were brought, by the equalizing pro- 
cess of annexation, and if there were 
several of equal value with the one so 
selected, no annexations were to be 
made to them. The equalizing town- 
ships were cut up into parcels of vari- 
ous .-i/.e and value, and these parcels 
were annexed to townships inferior in 
value, to the standard township, 
selected in the manner indicated, and 
annexations of land from the equalizing 
townships were made in quantity and 
quality to the inferior townships, suffi- 
cient to make them all equal in value 
to the township so selected. 

The lands of Lorain county, that 
were taken for t lie purpose of equalizing 
townships of inferior value, were those 
of Rochester, Brighton, Camden, Black 
River, and that part ot Henrietta that 
did not originally belong to Brownhelm. 
Tract 8, in range lit, being partly in 
Brighton, and partly in Camden, con- 
sisting of 3,700 acres, was annexed to 
LaG range, to equalize it. Tract No. 3, 
in LaFayette township, Medina county, 
consisting Of 1,810)^ acres, was annexed 
toPenfield. Tract 1. in gore I, ill range 
11, consisting of J,^J"> acres, was an- 
nexed to Eaton. Tract 2, in gore 1, 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



9 



range 11, consisting of 2,650 acres, was 
annexed to Columbia; 1,700 acres, in 
tract 4, in Rochester, were annexed to 
Huntington; 2,769 acres, in fraction 
No. 3, in range 11, Summit county, were 
annexed to Ridgeville; 4,600 acres, in 
tract 9, in Camden, were annexed to 
Grafton ; 4,000 acres, tract 7, in Brigh- 
ton, wereannexed to Wellington ; 4,300 
acres, in tract 3, gore 6, range 12, were 
annexed to Russia; 1,500 acres, in tract 
14, in Henrietta, were annexed to Shef- 
field ; 3,000 acres in tract 11, in Camden, 
were annexed to Pittsfield ; tract 3, 
consisting of 4,050 acres, in Rochester, 
was annexed to Elyria; 4,000 acres, in 
tract 2, in Black River, were annexed 
to Amherst; Bass Islands, No. 1, 2 and 
Island No. 5, lying north of Erie 
county, consisting of 2,063 acres, were 
annexed to Avon; and Kelley's Island, 
consisting of 2,747 acres, was annexed 
to Carlisle. After the townships were 
all made equal in value by the process 
of tacking and annexation, they were 
drawn by lot. There were ninety-three 
townships, or equalized parcels drawn 
east of the Cuyahoga, and forty-six 
on the west. The draft of the lands 
east of the Cuyahoga, took place prior 
to 1800, and of those west of that river 
on the 4th of April, 1807. In the draft 
of the lands east of the river, it re- 
quired an ownership of $12,903.23 of 
the original purchase money, to entitle 
the owner to a township; and in the 
draft of those west of the river, which 
included the lands of Lorain county, 
it required an ownership of $26,087, in 
the original purchase money, to entitle 
the owner to a township. The same 
mode and plan were followed in each 
draft. The townships were numbered, 
and the numbers on separate pieces of 
paper, placed in a box. The names of 
the proprietors, who had subscribed, 
and were the owners of a sufficient 
amount of the purchase money to en- 
title them to a township, were arranged 
in alphabetical order, and where it was 
necessary for several persons to com- 
bine, because not owning severally a 
sufficient amount of the purchase 
money, or number of shares, to-entitle 



them to a township, the name of the 
person of the company that stood alpha- 
betically first, was used to represent 
them in the draft, anVl in case the small 
owners were unable, from disagree- 
ment among themselves, to unite, a 
committee was appointed to select and 
class the proprietors, and those selected 
were required to associate themselves 
together for the purpose of the draft. 
The township, corresponding to the 
first number drawn from the box, be- 
longed, with its annexations for pur- 
poses of equalization, to the person 
whose name stood first on the list, or 
to the persons whom he represented ; 
and the second drawn, belonged to the 
second person, and so on throughout 
the list. This was the mode adopted to 
sever the ownership in common, and 
to secure to each individual, or com- 
pany of individuals, their interest in 
severalty, in what, before then, had 
been the common property of all. 
When a township, by the draft, became 
the property of several, resort was had 
to the courts after their organization 
here, to effect partition of the same. 
Soon after the conveyance to the Land 
Company, to avoid complications aris- 
ing from the death of its members, and 
to facilitate the transmission of titles, 
the company conveyed the entire pur- 
chase, in trust, to John Morgan, John 
('ad well and Jonathan Brace; and as 
titles were wanted, either before or 
after, the division by draft, convey- 
ances were made to the purchasers by 
these trustees. 

Little was know of the south shore 
of Lake Erie, and the adjoining coun- 
try, until near the close of the 18th 
century. It was formerly inhabited by 
the nation of Indians called the Erigas, 
or Eries, from whom the Lake took its 
name. This nation was destroyed by 
the Iroquois, or Five nations. 

Charlevoix, in his " History of New 
France," published in 1744, in speaking 
of the country south of,and bordering on 
Lake Erie, says: "All this shore is 
nearly unknown." An old French 
map, made in 1755, to be seen in the 
rooms of the Western Reserve Historical 



2* 



10 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



Society, in Cleveland, names the 
country between the Cuyahoga anil 
Sandusky rivers, as Canahogue; and 
east of the Cuyahoga, as Gwahoga. 
This is also the name given to that 
river which is made to empty into 
Canahogue Bay ; and the country des- 
ignated as Canahogue, is indicated as 
the Seat of War, the Mart of Trade, 
and the Chief Hunting Grounds of the 
six nations of the lake. But civil 
Government was not organized on the 
Western Reserve until the year 1800 
The governor and judges of the north- 
west territory, under the ordinance of 
1787, in 178S, by proclamation, organ- 
ized the County of Washington, and 
included within it, all of the Western 
Reserve east of the Cuyahoga; and in 
1796, the year of the first settlement of 
New Connecticut, the county of Wayne 
was erected, which included over half 
of Ohio, all of the Western Reserve 
west of the Cuyahoga, with a part of 
Indiana, all of Michigan, and the 
American portion of Lakes Superior, 
Huron, St. Clair and Erie to the "mouth 
of the Cuyahoga." The County Seat 
of Waynecounty was Detroit. In 1797, 
Jefferson county was established, ami 
the Western Reserve, east of the Cuya- 
hoga, became a part of it, by restricting 
the limits of Washington. As before 
remarked, Connecticut and the Land 
Company refused to recognize 1 lie juris- 
diction of the United States, prior to 
1800. The act of inclusion of their 
western land within the counties of 
Washington, Jefferson and Wayne, 
they declared to he unwarranted, and 
the pow (■>■ of < Jongress to prescribe rules 
tor the government of the same, they 
denied; and from the opening settle- 
ment, in 1 7' >'"•, until the transfer of 
jurisdiction to the general Government 
was complete, on the 30th of May, in 

1800, the new settlers were entirely 

without municipal laws. There was 
no regulation governing the transmis- 
sion of, or succession to, property on 
the decease of the owner. No regulations 
of any kind securing the protection of 
rights, or the redress of wrongs. The 
want of laws for the government of 



the settlers, was seriously felt, and as 
early as 179G, the company petitioned 
the Legislature of Connecticut, to erect 
the Reserve into a county, with proper 
and suitable laws, to regulate the 
internal policy of the territory 
for a limited period. This petition, 
however, was not granted, and for up- 
wards of four years the intercourse and 
conduct of the early settlers were re- 
gulated and restrained only by their 
New England sense of justice and right. 
But on the 10th of July, 1800, after 
Connecticut had released her jurisdic- 
tion to the United States, the Western 
Reserve was erected into a county, by 
the name of Trumbull, in honor of the 
governor of Connecticut, by the civil 
authority of Ohio. 

At the election in the fall of that 
year, Edward Paine received thirty- 
eight voles out of the forty-two cast 
for member of the Territorial Legisla- 
ture. The election was held at Warren, 
the County Seat. This was the first 
participation that the settlers had in 
the affairs of government here. Dur- 
ing the same year, the Court of Quarter 
Sessions, a tribunal that did not survive 
the Constitution of 1802, was established 
and organized, and by it the county 
was divided into eight organized town- 
ships. The township of Cleveland was 
one, and embraced not only a large 
portion of territory east of the ( !uyahoga, 
but all of the Reserve lying west of 
that river. This spot was once a part 
of that township. On December 1> 
1805 , the county of Geauga was erected. 
It included within its limits nearly all 
of the present counties of Ashtabula, 
Geauga, Lake and Cuyahoga. On the 
10th day of February, 1807, there was 
a more general division into counties. 
That part of the Western Reserve lying 
west of the Cuyahoga and north of 
township No. I, was attached to Geauga, 
to be a part thereof, until Cuyahoga 
should be organized. All of the pres- 
ent county of Lorain, uorth of Grafton, 
LaGrange, Pittsfleld and Camden, be- 
longed to, and was a pari of the county 
of Geauga, from February 10, 1807, 
until January 10, 1810. At that date 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



11 



1807, Ashtabula was erected out of 
Trumbull and Geauga, to be organized 
whenever its population would war- 
rant it. Also, all that part of Trumbull 
which lay west of the fifth range of 
towuships, was erected into a county 
by the name of Portage, and all of the 
Western Reserve, west of the Cuyahoga 
and south of township No. 5, was an- 
nexed to, and declared to be a part of 
Portage. So that all of the present 
county of Lorain, south of Eaton, Car- 
lisle, Russia and Henrietta belonged to 
and was a part of Portage, and re- 
mained a part of it until January 22, 
1811. On the 10th day of February, 
1807, the county of Cuyahoga was 
carved out of Geauga, to be organized 
whenever its population should be suffi- 
cient to require it. On the 16th of 
January, 1810, the population having 
become sufficient, the county was de- 
clared organized. On February 8, 1809, 
Huron was erected into a county cover- 
ing the Fire Lands, but to remain at- 
tached to Geauga and Portage, for the 
time being, for purposes of government. 
On January 22, 1811, the boundary 
line of Huron Mas extended east, on 
the line now dividing Camden and 
Henrietta, Pittsfield and Russia, Car- 
lisle and LaGrange, to the southwest 
corner of Eaton ; and from there, north 
on the line dividing Carlisle and Eaton, 
and Elyria and Ridgevllle, to the north- 
west corner of Ridgeville; thence west 
to Black River, and down the same to 
the Lake. On the day that these lines 
were so altered and extended, the Legis- 
lature extended the south line of 
Cuyahoga county, from the soutwest 
corner of Strongsville, west to the 
southwest corner of Eaton; thence 
north, between Eaton and Carlisle, to the 
northwest corner of Eaton; and from 
that point, west between Elyria and 
Carlisle, to the east branch of Black 
River, and down the same to the Lake. 
Here was a conflict in boundaries. The 
boundary of Huron county included all 
of Elyria, extending east to Ridgeville; 
and the boundary of Cuyahoga included 
within its limits that part of Elyria 
lying east of the east branch of the 



river. The river was the dividing line 
between the two counties, in the one 
act; and the line between Elyria and 
Ridgeville was the dividing line in the 
other. This conflict was removed at 
the next session of the Legislature, by 
adopting the township line, instead of 
the river, as the boundary line between 
the two counties, at this point. This 
adjustment of boundaries gave to Huron 
county the townships now known as 
Elyria, Carlisle, Russia, Henrietta, 
Brownhelm, Amherst, and all of Black 
River, and Sheffield lying west of the 
river; and to Cuyahoga countv, Eaton, 
Columbia, Ridgeville, Avon, and all of 
the townships of Black River and 
Sheffield lying east of the jriver. At 
that date, 1811, the territory now com- 
prising the county of Lorain, belonged 
to the counties of Huron, Cuyahoga, 
and Portage. 

The county of Huron, although es- 
tablished in 1809, and extended east of 
Black River in 1811, was annexed to 
Cuyahoga in 1810, for judicial and 
other purposes, and remained so an- 
nexed, until January, 1815, when it was 
organized, and assumed control of its 
own affairs. 

On the 18th day of February, 1812, 
Medina was formed, and comprised all 
of the territory between the eleventh 
range of townships and Huron county, 
and south of townships number five. It 
therefore included all of the present 
county of Lorain, south of Eaton, Car- 
lisle, Russia, and Henrietta. On the 
14th day of January, ISIS, that county 
was organized, and its local government 
put into operation, it remaining in the 
interim, from the date of its formation 
to the date of its organization, attached 
to the county of Portage, for county 
purposes. On the 2Gth of December, 
1S22, Lorain county was established. 
It took from the county of Huron the 
territory embraced in the townships of 
Brownhelm, Henrietta, Amherst, Rus- 
sia, Elyria, and Carlisle, and those 
parts of the townships of Black River 
and Sheffield that lie on the west of 
Black River; and from the county of 
Cuyahoga .the townships of Troy, (now 



12 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



Avon), Ridgeville, the west half of 
Olmsted, (then called Lenox), Eaton, 
Columbia, and those parts of Black 
River and Sheffield lying east of the 
river; and from the county of Medina, 

< !amden, Brighton,PittsfieldjLaGrange, 
and Wellington. The county, as origin- 
ally formed, embraced seventeen and 
one-half townships, which, until the 
county was organized, were to remain 
attached to the counties of Medina, 
Huron, and Cuyahoga, as formerly. It 
a\ as, however,organized independently, 
and went into operation, on the 21st day 
of January, 1824. In the organization 
of the county, it was provided that the 
fust officers should be elected in April, 
1824; and at that election, that part of 
Lenox that was brought into Lorain, 
should vote at Ridgeville, and that part 
of Brighton, lying in Medina before 
then, should vote in the adjoining 
township of Wellington. On January 
29, 1827, the boundary lines were 
changed. The townships of Grafton, 
Penfield, Spencer and Homer, Hunting- 
ton, Sullivan, Rochester and Troy — 
Mime of them organized and some not — 
were detached from Medina, and an- 
nexed to, and become a part of, Lorain ; 
and the half of Lenox belonging to 
Lorain, was >er off to Cuyahoga, to be 
a part of Middlehnry, until otherwise 
provided. Upon the formation of the 
county of .Summit, in 1840, the town- 
ships of Spencer and Homer were 
reattached to Medina; and upon the 
formation of Ashland county, in Feb- 
ruary, 1846, Sullivan and Troy were 
detached from Lorain, and made a part 
of that county. Prior to this, and on 
tlic 29th of January, 1827, an act was 
passed, fixing the northern boundary of 
tin' comity. The mode of forming and 
organizing the counties had been such 
as to leave unsettled the northern limit 
of the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga, 

< iuyahoga, and Lorain. Ami in matters 
involving the exercise of criminal jur- 
isdiction oi offenses committed on the 
lake, in the vicinity of the shore, the 
question was of too much practical im- 
portance to he left in doubt. The 
Treaty between the United States and 



Great Britain, fixed the line running 
through the middle of the lakes as the 
dividing line between the two countries. 
Connecticut had reserved the land 
between the 41st degree of north lati- 
tude, and 42 deg. and 2 min. The 
course and shape of Lake Erie were 
such that the parallel of 42 deg. and 
2 min. would cross the middle line of 
the lake; and adjoining Ashtabtda, 
that degree of latitude would be south 
of, and adjoining Lorain north of, the 
boundary line between Canada and the 
United States. It was therefore de- 
clared, by this act, that the northern 
boundary of these four counties should 
extend to the northern boundary of the 
United States. This carried the north- 
ern boundary of Lorain to the middle 
of Lake Erie, without regard to the 
northern limit of the Western Reserve. 
Before recounting the incidents con- 
nected with the early settlement and 
organization of the county, and the 
townships comprising it, brief allusion 
should be made to a fact connected with 
the history of the Reserve, respecting 
its common schools. By the ordinance 
of Congress, of 1785, it was declared 
that section 16 of every township should 
be reserved, for the maintenance of 
public schools in the township. The 
ordinance of 1787, reaffirmed the policy 
thus declared. The provisions of these 
ordinances, in this respect, were not 
applicable to, nor operative over, the 
region of the Reserve, because of the 
fact that the United States did not own 
its soil; and although the entire 
amount paid to Connecticut by the Land 
Company, for the territory of the 
Reserve, was set apart for, and devoted 
to, the maintenance of public schools 
in that State, no part of that fund was 
appropriated to purposes of education 
here. Here was an inequality of 
advantages between the people of the 
Reserve and of the remainder of the 
State, in that respect. This inequality 
was, however, in a measure, removed 
in lso:{,by an act of Congress, which set 
apart and appropriated to the Western 
Reserve, as an equivalent for section 16, 
a sufficient quantity of land in the 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



13 



United States Military District, to com- 
pensate the loss of that section to school 
purposes, in the lands lying east of the 
Cuyahoga. This amount was equal to 
one thirty-sixth of the land of the 
Eeserve, to which the Indian title had, 
before that time, been extinguished. 
The Indian title to the lands of the 
Reserve west of theCuj'ahoga, not then 
having been extinguished, the matter 
seemed to drop from public notice, and 
remained so until 1829. At this date, 
the Legislature, in a Memorial to 
Congress, directed its attention to the 
fact, that by the Treaty of Fort Industry, 
concluded in 1805, the Indian title to 
the land west of the Cuyahoga,- had 
been relinquished to the United States, 
and prayed in recognition of the fact, 
that an additional amount of land lying 
within the United States Military Dis- 
trict, should be set apart for the use of 
the public schools of the Eeserve, and 
equal in quantit} r to one thirty-sixth of 
the territory, ceded to the United States 
by that Treaty. The Memorial pro- 
duced thee desired result. In 1834, 
Congress, in compliance with the re- 
quest of the Legislature, granted such 
an additional amount of land to the 
Eeserve for school purposes, as to 
equalize its distribution of lands for 
such purpose, and in furtherance of its 
object to carry into effect its determina- 
tion, to donate one thirty-sixth part of 
the public domain, to the purposes of 
education. The lands first allotted to 
the Eeserve, for such purpose, were 
situated in the counties of Holmes and 
Tuscarawas, and in 1831, were sur- 
veyed and sold, and the proceeds 
arising from their sale, as well as the 
funds arising from the sale of those 
subsequently appropriated, were placed, 
and invested with other school funds of 
the State, and constitute one of the 
sources from which the people of the 
Eeserve derive the means of supporting 
and maintaining their common schools. 
This fund is called the Western Eeserve 
school fund. 

In undertaking to notice some of the 
events, connected with the early set- 
tlement of the townships of the county, 



I fully appreciate the liability to error. 
But very few of the early settlers are 
left to recount the incidents, privations, 
and rude pleasures of early life. 
Tradition is not always reliable, and 
memory, once fresh and faithful, fades 
with the approach of advancing years. 
We venture only a glance, at the early 
township history, and vouch only its 
general accuracy. In September, 1807, 
a company of thirty persons left Water- 
bury, Connecticut, for the township of 
Columbia. They were Calvin Hoadley, 
his wife, and five children ; Lemuel 
Hoadley, wife, and three children, his 
father, and his wife's mother; Lathrop 
Seymour, and wife; John Williams,, 
wife, and five children ; a Mrs. Parkef, 
with four children ; Silas Hoadley, and 
Chauncey Warner; BelaBronson, wife, 
and child. This company were two 
months in reaching Buffalo, and in 
undertaking the journey from there, by 
the lake, were overtaken by disaster, 
and thrown ashore Many of them 
were compelled to make the journey 
from the spot where Erie now is, on 
foot, nearly to Cleveland. 

The greater part of this company, 
stopped at Cleveland, and remained 
through the winter. But Bela Bronson, 
wife and child; Levi Bronson, "John 
Williams, and Walter Strong, pushed 
across the Cu} r ahoga, cut their way 
through the wilderness to Columbia, 
erected a log house, and commenced 
pioneer life. They were eight days in 
cutting their way from Cleveland to 
Columbia. In the winter of 1807-8, the 
families of John Williams and James 
Geer, arrived ; and in the spring and 
summer of 1808, those who remained at 
Cleveland during the winter, arrived 
also. At the apportionment, by draft, 
in lS07,Levi Bronson, Harmon Bronson, 
Azor Bronson, Calvin Hoadlj r , and 
Jared Richards, had formed an associa- 
tion called the Waterbury Land Com- 
pany. This Company, Benjamin 
Doolittle, Jr., Samuel Doolittle, and 
William Law, drew that township, as 
Xo. 5, Eange 15, with 2,650 acres in 
Richfield and Boston, in Summit county, 
annexed, to equalize it. Columbia, at 



14 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



the time of its organization, which took 
place in 1800, was a part of Geauga 
county. The first election was held on 
the first Monday of April, of that year, 
at the house of Calvin Hoadley. There 
were nineteen voters at the election. 
Calvin Hoadley, Jared Pritehard, and 
John Williams, were elected trustees. 
BelaBronson waselected clerk. Having 
no use for a treasurer, none was 
elected. Lathrop Seymour was elected 
constable; and to provide him employ- 
ment, in May following, Nathaniel 
Doan was elected Justice of the Peace. 
All of Geauga county lying west of 
Columbia, was annexed to that town- 
ship for judicial, and other purposes. 
The jurisdiction of that judicial 
functionary, covered, in territorial 
extent, nearly an empire. The plaintiff 
in the first action brought before him. 
lived on Grand River, and thedefendant 
on the Vermillion. It was the case of 
Skinner v. Baker. The plaintiff had 
judgment, which was paid, not in legal 
tender, but in labor. The first school 
taught was in the summer of 1808, by 
Mrs. Bela Bronson, in the first log 
house erected. The first winter school 
was taught by Bela Bronson, in a 
blacksmith shop, during the winter of 
1809-10. In August, 1812, after the 
commencement of the war, between 
England and the United States, an 
event transpired which occasioned 
feelings of great apprehension and 
alarm, not only to the pioneers of 
Columbia, but to the inhabitants of the 
entire Reserve. Information came, and 
spread rapidly, that the British, and 
their allies, weir approaching the set- 
tlements, with intent to kill ami mas- 
sacre the inhabitants. A large party 
bud been seen landing at Huron, which 
was supposed co be the forces of the 
enemy. Men, women, and children 
fled from their homes in terror. As the 
inhabitants of Ridgeville reached Col- 
umbia, in their flight, they found the 
Columbia settlement nearly abandoned. 
This flight, however, lasted but a short 
time, when Levi Bronson, returning 
from Cleveland, brought the news, 
that the persons landed at Huron, were 



the prisoners that Hull surrendered, at 
Detroit, to the British. On the return 
of those who had soughtsafety in flight 
from Columbia, the Elder Bronson, 
who bad refused to join them, informed 
them that "the wicked flee, when no 
man pursueth." The inhabitants of 
Columbia, Ridgeville, Middlebury, and 
Baton, at once joined in the erection of 
a Block House, just south of the center 
of the town. This was the fortress, to 
which to llee for safety, in an hour of 
danger. Captain Hoadly had the honor 
of commanding this post. A company 
was organized to garrison it; but we are 
well informed that the enemy had not 
the temerity, to come within reach of 
its guns. The Captain and his men 
were mustered into the service, and 
paid as soldiers of the United States 
army. Able-bodied men constituted 
the garrison, while the old men, women 
and children, were left unprotected, at 
their homes, to clultivate the soil, and 
receive the first assault of the expected 
foe. I believe, however, that the roar 
ot the cannon, off Put-in-Bay Island, 
on the 10th of September, 1813, was the 
first, and the last, beard of the enemy, 
after these military preparations for 
defense were made. The first mail, 
west of Cleveland, was carried by 
Horace Gun, in 180S. The route was 
from Cleveland to Maumee. The only 
houses on the route were one at Black 
River, occupied by Azariali Beebe, and 
one at .Milan, occupied by a Frenchman 
by, the name of Flemins. In 1809, the 
mail over this route was carried by 
Benoni Adams, of Columbia. It re- 
quired two weeks to make the trip. 
The only road was an Indian trail, 
along the lake, and the carrier went 
on foot. There was no postollice, be- 
tween Cleveland ami Maumee, no way 
mails, and but lew who could either 
read or write. The carrier was com- 
pelled, from its extent, to lodge one 
night in the Black Swamp. 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



15 



Ridgeville. 

Town No. 6, in the 16th range of 
townships, (Ridgeville), was drawn by 
Ephraim Root, a lawyer of Hartford. 
For a few years after its settlement, it 
was called Rootstown. In 1809-10, 
Oliver Terrell, Ichabod Terrell, and 
David Beebe, residents of Waterbury, 
exchanged lands by them owned there, 
for a little over one-fourth of the town- 
ship of Ridgeville. In the spring of 
1810, David Beebe, and his sons, David 
and Loman; Philander and Oliver 
Terrell, sons of Ichabod; Joel Terrell 
and Lyman Root, left Waterbury, and 
after a long journey, reached Ridgeville. 
These were the first settlers. On the 
6th of July, of that year, Tillotson 
Terrell arrived, with his wife and three 
children. His was the first family that 
settled in the township. In the summer 
of that year, David Beebe, Jr., returned 
to Waterbury, and brought on the 
family of his father, and the wife and 
children of Lyman Root. At the same 
time, Ichabod Terrell, his wife Rhoda, 
and five children ; his father, and Asa 
Morgan, Ins teamster, exchanged their 
Connecticut homes, and comforts, for 
the untried experiences of frontier life. 
Oliver Terrell, father of Ichabod, up- 
wards of eighty years of age, made the 
entire trip on horseback. They reached 
Ridgeville in the Fall, cutting\a wagon 
road from Rocky River to the place of 
destination. They were two days and 
three nights, en route, from Rocky 
River. The company that came on in 
the spring, had built a- small cabin of 
logs, of such size, as so few could carry, 
the roof being of bark, and the floor of 
mother earth. This cabin was built in 
the first clearing made, and on land 
now owned by John Lansbnry. Here 
all had lived together, and kept bache- 
lor's hall. Upon the arrival of Tillotson 
Terrell and family, in the early part of 
July, he ; ' moved in," and remained 
until the erection of a log house for 
himself and family, on the premises 
now owned by Mrs. Harry Terrell 
This was not long after his advent into 



the town. About the same time, David 
Beebe, Sr., built a log house, a little 
west, nearly opposite the residence of 
the late Garry Root. These log cabins 
were an improvement on the one pre- 
viously built, in one respect, at least: 
each had a puncheon floor, and an 
opening for a window. As window- 
glass was an article not possessed, 
foolscap paper was employed in its 
stead ; and while it was a poor instru- 
ment, to exclude the cold air from the 
rude dwelling, it was the best means 
possessed as a substitute, for the ad- 
mission of light. Joel Terrell, one of 
the first of the spring company, re- 
turned to Connecticut in 1810, and 
remained until 1811, when, with his 
family, he directed his steps again 
westward, to his future home. The 
families of David Heebe, Sr., Lyman 
Root, and Ichabod Terrell, that came on 
in the fall of 1810, consisted of twenty 
persons. They were seven weeks on 
the way. Two yokes of oxen to a 
wagon, with a horse as a leader, consti- 
tuted the motive power, that conveyed 
them hither. 

Rhoda Ten el, the wife of Ichabod, 
was a survivor of the Wyoming Massa- 
cre; and at her death, occurring over 
twenty years ago, left ninety-one grand 
children, and a large number of great 
grand children surviving her. The 
first school house was erected near the 
centre of the town, on the spot where 
the Tuttle House now stands. It was 
consumed by fire in 1814. The first 
framed house was built by Major Willis 
Terrell. The first mill for grinding 
flour was the offspring of necessity. It 
was erected near where Tillotson Ter- 
rell built his log house. It was the 
Mortar and Pestle. A log about three 
feet in length, cut from a pepperage 
tree, set on its end, burned out round 
in the top, with a pestle attached to a 
spring pole; these were the sum total 
of its parts and its mechanism. This 
was a familiar and friendly acquaintance 
of the neighboring inhabitants, and by 
them was kept in constant use, until 
time and means brought in better days. 
In 1812-13 Joseph Cahoon, of Dover, 



16 



HISTORICAL ADD1 J ESS 



built a grist mill on the small creek at 
the centre. Capt. Hoadley, of Colum- 
bia, possessed a hand grist mill; and in 
the winter of 1S1U-17 a mill was built 
at Elyria, thus removing the ne- 
cessity for the further use of the Mortar 
and Pestle. 

The township of Ridgeville was or- 
ganized in 1813. At the spring election 
of that year there were fifteen voters; 
and they were all at election. Judges 
of election were provided, and the polls 
were opened. David Beebe, Ichabod 
Terrell and Joel Terrell were elected 
trustees. Joel Terrell was elected jus- 
tice of the peace; David Beebe, Jr., 
constable, and Willis Terrell township 
clerk. A post office was established in 
181b, and Moses Eldred appointed post 
master. Up to this date the Cleveland 
post office was the nearest. Town No. 
5 in the same range (Eaton), was In- 
cluded in the organization of Ridgeville. 
It required a population having ten 
electors to secure the pri/ileges result- 
ing from the civil organization ot a 
township, and where the population 
was not sufficient in a surveyed town 
to secure incorporation as a township, 
two or more towns could unite, and 
thus secure such privileges. And such 
union usually continued, until by the 
increase of population the number ot 
electors required, to secure individual 
and independent organization, became 
residents of the town. Adjoining 
towns, with less than the required num- 
ber of electors to secure incorporation, 
were annexed to organized townships, 
for the purpose of civil and judicial ad- 
ministration; and they remained so an- 
nexed until of sufficient growth to en- 
title them to separate and independent 
incorporation. During the continuance 
of the annexation, the inhabitants of 
tin- annexed territory were, to all intents 
and purposes, citizens of the township 
to which annexed, with the same priv- 
ileges, and subject to the same exactions 
as actual residents therein. It will be 
seen that the practice of uniting sur- 
veyed towns for civil purposes, and ot 
annexations for like purposes, were of 
frequent occurrence and necessity. 



Black River. 

The earliest attempted permanent set- 
tlement was at the mouth of Black 
River. In 1787, a few Moravian minis- 
ters, missionaries among the Delawares 
and other tribes, with a band of Chris- 
tian Indians, undertook to make a per- 
manent settlement at that point. In 
the spring of that year they removed 
from Pilgrim's Rest, on the Cuyahoga, 
to the place contemplated as their new 
abode. Here they hoped to establish a 
centre, and plant the seeds, of the Chri- 
tian civilization of the Indians. Their 
hopes, however, were not to be realized. 
They had remained but a few days upon 
the spot selected, when a message from 
the chief of the Delawares, command- 
ing them to depart from the Black 
River, was received, and at once obeyed. 
This was the first settlement in what is 
now the County ; for although tempor- 
ary anil of but short duration, it was a 
settlement in fact, coupled with an in- 
tent to remain. No further attempt 
was made to settle at the mouth of th8 
river until 1807. In the survey of the 
previous year, Black River had been 
divided into three parts — Gore No. 1, 
Tract No. 2 and Gore No. 3. It was 
not drawn as a township, but, as before 
stated, was used for purposes of equali- 
zation. Gore 1 was annexed to Olm- 
sted, Tract '2 to Amherst, and Gore 3 to 
the township of .Medina. The persons 
who drew the three last named town- 
ships became respectively the owners 
of Black River. The first family that 
settled in Black River was that of Aza- 
riah Beebe, consisting of himself and 
wife. This was in 1807. Nathan Perry, 
Jr., son of Nathan Terry, of ( 'leveland, 
both from Vermont, opened a store at 
Black River in the same year for trade 
with the Indians. Beebe and wife were 
in his employment, and he boarded in 
their family. They took up their resi- 
dence east of the river, remained a few 
years, and left. No addition was made 
to the settlement until 1810. In the 
spring of that year, Daniel Perry, an 
uncle of Nathan jr., settled with his 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



17 



family near the mouth of the river. 
He, also, was from Vermont. His stay, 
however, was not permanent, as he re- 
mained bat a few years, then moved 
to Sheffield, whence, after a short resi- 
dence there, he removed to Brownhelm, 
where he spent the remainder of a very 
useful life. During the same year, 1810, 
additions were made to the town by the 
arrival of Jacob Shupe, Joseph Quig- 
ley, George Kelso, Andrew Kelso, Ralph 
Lyon, and a Mr. Seely. Some of these 
soon took up their abode in No. — Am- 
herst. In the following year, 1811, there 
came John S. Reid, Quartis Gilmore, 
Aretus Gilmore, and William Martin. 
The first named of this company, John 
S. Reid, was a man of great energy of 
character, and soon became prominent, 
as the leading citizen of the town. He 
was one of the first three Commission- 
ers upon the organization of the coun- 
ty, in 1824; and before then, and while 
Black River was a part of Huron coun- 
ty, he was, in 1819, a Commissioner of 
that county. Pie was one of the Com- 
missioners of Huron county that direct- 
ed the joint organization of Elyria and 
Carlisle. He died in 1831. His son, 
Conrad, has lived in Black River for 
sixty-five consecutive years, lie and 
Mrs. Slater, daughter of William Mar- 
tin, are the only surviving residents of 
1811. Quartus and Aretus Gilmore were 
sons of Edmund, who removed to Black 
River with his family in 1812. He was 
the owner of a large tract of land in 
Black River and Amherst. He built, in 
that year, the first framed barn ever 
built in the county. 

On the 14th of November, 1811, the 
township of Dover was organized by the 
Commissioners of Cuyahoga county. It 
included within its defined limits the 
present townships of Dover, Avon, 
Sheffield, and that part of Black River 
east of the river; and on the 12th of 
March, 1812, the territory now com- 
prising the townships of Elyria, Am- 
herst, all of Black River west of the 
river, and Brownhelm, were attached 
to Dover, for township purposes. They 
remained so attached until Vermillion 
was organized, when the towns now 



known as Amherst, Brownhelm, and 
Black River west of the river, were 
annexed to that township. On the 
27th of October, 1818, the township 
of Troy was organized into a separate 
township, and included the present 
towns of Avon, and all of Sheffield and 
Black River lying east of the river. It 
will be remembered that Huron county 
was organized in 1815, and was extend- 
ed east to Black River, and for a dis- 
tance, beyond it. At the February ses- 
sion, in 1817, of the Commissioners of 
Huron county, it was ordered that 
township No. 6 (Amherst), and that 
part of No. 7 (Black River), in the 18th 
Range, which lay in the county of Hu- 
ron, with all the lands thereto attached 
in said Huron county, be set off from 
the township of Vermillion, and organ- 
ized into a separate township, by the 
name of Black River. Thus Amherst, 
Black River, and Brownhelm, were 
first organized, as Black River. 

In June, 1S24, the corner of the town 
lying east of the river was annexed to 
Black River township for judicial pur- 
poses. The first election for township 
officers, for Black River township, was 
held in April, 1817. The names of all 
the officers elected are not known. 
There were two post offices in the town. 
The Black River post office was located 
on the South Ridge, now South Am- 
herst, and the other was named "The 
Mouth of Black River Post Office," and 
was kept at the mouth of the river. 
Eliphalet Redington was the first post- 
master of the office at Black River, and 
John S. Reid of the Mouth of Black 
River post office. 



18 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



Brownlielm. 

Of Brownhelra, I shall Bay but little. 
Her "early settlement and history" 
were, years ago, put into euduring 
shape by one familiar with the incom- 
ing and outgoing of her people, during 
a growth of fifty years. On the 4th of 
July, L867, at the celebration of the 
semi-centennial anniversary oi her first 
settlement, the scenes and incidents 
connected therewith, were narrated 
with interesting detail, by President 
Fairchild, of Oberlin College The 
town was drawn in the draft by Asher 
Miller and Nathaniel Shalor. Original- 
ly i( was bounded south by tracts 11 
and 15, in range 19. It included nearly 
one third of Henrietta. In 181(5, Col. 
Henry Brown, from Stockbridge, Mass- 
achusetts, entered the township, then 
known as Xo. G, Range 19, and built 
the first log house. He was accompa- 
nied here, and assisted in building, by 
Peter P. Pease, Charles Whittlesey, 
William Alverson, and William Lin- 
coln. Seth Morse and Renessalaer 
Cooley also assisted in building the 
house. Morse and Cooley returned to 
the East for the winter. Pease, Whit- 
tlesey, Alverson and Lincoln remained 
here. On the 4th of July, 1817, the 
families of Levi Shepard, Sylvester 
Barnum, and Stephen James arrived, 
and alter celebrating the Fourth on the 
shore, entered upon pioneer life near 
the log house of Brown. These were 
the first families that settled in the 
town. Dining the same year the fami- 
lies of Solomon Whittlesey, Alva Cur- 
tis, Benjamin Bacon, and Fbenezer 
Scott arrived. In ISIS, many other- 
families were added, giving hope of a 
speedy filling up of the town. They 
were those of Col. Brown, Grandison 
Fairchild, Anson Cooper, Elisha Peek, 
■George Bacon, Allied Avery, Enos 
< looley, < >rrin Sage, John Graham, and 
others. There were other families that 
arrived and settled in the south part of 
the town, subsequently set off to Hen- 
rietta. They will be named in connec- 
tion with the mention of that town. The 



first framed house in the town was 
built by Benjamin Bacon. The first 
brick bouse in the count)- was built bj 
Grandison Fairchild, in the summer of 
1819. .Mrs. Alverson gathered the chil- 
dren of the neighborhood together and 
taught, the first school in the town. Her 
own house was the school house. The 
Log school house was built on the brow 
of the hill, in the fall of the same year, 
and because of its pretentious dimen- 
sions, for the times — IS by 22 — the 
street upon which it stood received the 
name of Strut street, and bore it lor 
many years. Grandison Fairchild 
taught the school the first two winters, 
receiving his tuition in chopping. La- 
bor and produce were the currency em- 
ployed for the exchange of values. 
Money was very scarce, and nearly all 
debts, except the one incurred in the 
purchase of lands, were paid in labor, 
its products, and those of the soil. 

From February, 1817, until October, 
1S18, the town was a part of Black Riv- 
er. At the latter date, on petition of 
the inhabitants to the Commissioners of 
Huron county, Xo. 6, in the 19th Range, 
together with the surplus lands adjoin- 
ing west, ami all lands lying west ot 
Beaver creek, in No. 7, 18th Range 
(Black River), was organized into a 
separate township by the name of 
Brownlielm. Col. Brown had the hon- 
or to select the name. Township offi- 
cers were elected at the spring election 
in 1810, held at the house of George Ba- 
con. Calvin Leonard, Levi Shepard, 
and Alva Curtis, were elected trustees; 
Anson Cooper, township clerk ; William 
Alverson, treasurer; Benjamin Bacon, 
and Levi Shepard, justices of the peace. 
This perfected the township organiza- 
tion. That part of the present town of 
Black River lying west of Beaver creek 
was, in June, 1829, by order of the 
Commissioners, detached from Brown- 
helm, ami re-annexed to Black River. 



OF LORAIN" COUNTY. 



19 



G-rafton. 

Town No. 4, Range 1G, was drawn by 
Lemuel Storrs. In May, 181G, from 
fifteen to eighteen men left Berkshire 
county, Massachusetts, and journeyed 
hither for the purpose of selecting and 
locating lands for which they either 
had exchanged, or were to exchange, 
lands owned b} r them in that State. 
Among these men were Jonathan Raw- 
son, John and George Sibley, Seth C. 
and Thomas Ingersoll, sons of Major 
William Ingersoll. and brothers of Mrs. 
Harriet Nesbitt, whose reminiscences 
of the town, in its early days, have been 
so recently, and so happily given to the 
public The selection was made, and all 
returned East, except the Sibleys, and 
men employed by Rawson to remain 
and work at clearing the forest. In the 
fall of that year, Major William Inger- 
soll moved his family into the town, ar- 
riving on November 4th. He settled 
just east of Kingsley's Corners, on land 
selected by his sons in the spring. This 
was the first family that settled in the 
town. The journey was made with a 
span of horses, and three yoke of oxen. 
A small shanty had been built on the 
land of the Sibleys. and upon their in- 
vitation, it was occupied by the family 
of Major Ingersoll for about two weeks, 
during which time, he and the boys 
erected a log house upon land of his 
own. In February, 1817, the family of 
William Crittenden arrived. This was 
family No. 2. In the month of March 
following, came the families of the 
Rawsons, Boughtons, Sibleys, and Nes- 
bits; and a little later in the same 
season the families of Captain William 
Turner, Aaron Root, and Bildad Bel- 
din; and not long after the family of 
David Ashley. An attack was at once 
made upon the thick forest, and within 
twelve months from the arrival of Maj. 
Ingersoll, twelve log houses were erect- 
ed, that <?ave shelter to ninety-seven 
persons. During the following year, 
additions were made by the arrival of 
many other families. 

This township then belonged to 



dina county, which was formed in 1812, 
but as elsewhere stated, for want of 
population was not organized until 
January, 1818. From its formation, to 
its organization, it remained attached 
to Portage county, where the deeds of 
the early settlers were recorded. On 
the 25th of July, 1818, on petition of the 
inhabitants, the town was incorporated 
by the name of Grafton, by the Com- 
missioners of Medina county. At the 
first election held in August, 181S y 
Eliphalet Jones, William Ingersoll and 
William B. Crittenden were elected 
trustees; William Bishop, clerk; Reu- 
ben Ingersoll, treasurer; David Ashley, 
appraiser of property ; Grin-del Rawson 
and Seth C. Ingersoll, fence viewers. 
Previous to the organization of the 
township, it had been attached to Liv- 
erpool for judicial purposes, and in 
April, 1818, Reuben Ingersoll had been 
elected justice of the peace, at the elec- 
tion held at that town. 

The first school was taught by Miss 
Mary Sibley, in 1818, in the log school 
house built near the residence of Capt. 
William Turner. During the same year 
a church was organized by Rev. T. 
Brooks. The pioneer life of the early 
settlers of Grafton furnish many amus- 
ing incidents, one of which shows the 
inventive power of necessity. When 
Guy Boughton was on his way from 
Massachusetts, he sold to Heman Ely a 
double wagon, and agreed to deliver it 
at town No. 6, Range 17. On reaching 
Grafton he found there were twelve 
miles of unbroken forest between his 
wagon and the place of delivery. One 
of two wavs must be adopted : he must 
cut a wagon road the whole distance, or 
try the navigable capacity of Black 
river. He chose the latter. He made a 
raft, launched it, put his wagon on it, 
shoved off from shore, and in due time 
fulfilled his contract, by delivering the 
wagon to Mr. Ely, at the toot of what 
is now Broad street, in this village. 



20 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



Sheffield. 

Town \<>. 7, in range 17, Sheffield, in 
the partition by draft, was drawn by 
William Hart, of Saybrook. Tract 14, 
in Henrietta, was annexed to it, to 
equalize it. Timothy Wallace was the 
first settler. Previous to Hart's dis- 
position of the land, and in about the 
year L812, he agreed with Wallace to 
give him his choice in lots, if sold by 
lot, if he would settle and occupy the 
same. Wallace accepted, entered and 
improved a few acres on the Robbins 
Barrel! farm, and finally abandoned it. 
[n January, 1815, Hart conveyed the 
township to Captain .John Day and 
Captain Jabez Burrell, of Berkshire 
county. Massachusetts. Obediah De- 
land, Joshua Smith, Joseph Fitch, Solo- 
mon Filch, Isaac Burrell and Henry 
Austin, bought in, and became joint 
owner- with Day and Burrell. In June 
of that year, .labez Burrell and Isaac, 
Captain Day and Joshua Smith, came 
west, and made selections. In the fol- 
lowing November, Smith and son 
reached the selected ground, and be- 
came fixed settlers. They were soon 
joined by Samuel B. Fitch and As her 
Chapman, who struck hands with them, 
built a small shanty, and occupied it 
during the winter of 1813-1(5. Free- 
man Richmond and family, took up 
their abode on lot 2. This was the first 
settlement of the town by a family. In 
April following, Henry Root, wife and 
six children, two boys and tour girls, 
arrived from Sheffield, Massachusetts, 
and took shelter in Smith's shanty 
until the log house was thrown up, that 
was to constitute their humble habita- 
tion for the immediate future. 

Wm. H. Root, Esq., still a resident, 
•and now in the advanced years of a 
>well-spent life, was the youngest of the 
two boys. Next, and soon, came Oliver 
Moon, Milton Garfield, John B. Gar- 
held, A. R. Dimmick, William Rich- 
mond and Willis Porter. In July and 
August, there came the families of 
John Day and Jazeb Burrell, the first 
arriving in July, and consisting of 



twelve person-, and the latter consist- 
ing of ten. William, the oldest son of 
John Day, at a later day, became one 
of the associate judges of the county. 
Captain Smith, in the fail, returned to 
Massachusetts, and brought on his 
family in March of 1817. There soon 
followed tiie Moores, Stevens, Hecocks, 
James, Arnold, and Isaac Burrell. 
There is no township in the county, 
unless it be Grafton, and possibly 
Brownhelin and LaGrange, that seeni- 
to have filled up as rapidly as Sheffield, 
in the first years of its settlement. 

From the organization of the county 
of Huron, until the organization of 
Lorain, Sheffield owed a divided 
allegiance. Originally, Dover embraced 
Avon, and all of Sheffield and Black 
River east of the river. At a later day, 
Avon, and the same parts of Sheffield 
and Black River, that formerly belonged 
to Dover, constituted the township of 
Troy, and they were then in Cuyahoga 
county. From 1815 to 1824, all of Shef- 
field, west of Black river, was attached 
to the township of Black River, as it 
existed before its territory was reduced 
to its present limits. This part of Shef- 
field was then in Huron county. The 
township was then known as No. 7, 
range 17. On the first Monday of June, 
1824, touched with a little ambition for 
territorial expansion, she laid her peti- 
tion before the commissioners of the 
county of Lorain, at their June session, 
in the first j^ear of the organization 
of the county, praying for a township 
organization that should embrace the 
in extent its present area, all of Black 
River township east of Black river, and 
so much of No. G, range 17, (Elyria), 
as was set off to Enoch Perkins, in the 
partition of that township. The action 
before the commissioners resulted in 
the organization of the township, with 
her present boundaries. Sheffield was 
the first township incorporated after 
the county was organized. Her incor- 
poration was the first official act of the 
commissioners at their June session, 
1824. A special election was ordered 
for the township officers, and took place 
July 10, 1824. John Day, Isaac Burrell 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



21 



and A. R. Dinimick, were elected trus- 
tees; Nathan Stevens, clerk; Milton 
Garfield, treasurer. Jabez Burrell had 
been elected Justice of the Peace in 
1S19, while the town was a part of 
Troy, and re-elected in 1822, and was 
still exercising the duties of the office, 
at the date of the township organiza- 
tion. 



Avon. 

Pierpont Edwards became proprietor 
at the draft, in 1807, of town No. 7, 
range 16, (Avon), together with Bass 
Island, No. 1, comprising 1,322 acres of 
land, Bass island, No. 2, 709 acres, 
and Island No. 5, 32 acres, in Lake Erie, 
west of north of Sandusky, annexed to 
the town, for the purpose of equaliza- 
tion. In 1812, Noah Davis settled on 
the Lake Shore, erected a log house, 
remained but a short time and left, 
never returning. In 1814, Wilbur 
Cahoon, Lewis Austin and Nicholas 
Young, made the first permanent 
settlement of the town. In 1815, Elah 
Park and others were added. On the 
27th of October, 1818, the town, together 
with the annexations herein before 
stated, was set oft* from Dover, and or- 
ganized in a separate township by the 
name of Troy, by the commissioners of 
Cuyahoga county. It will be remem- 
bered, that at this date, the river from 
the point where it passes into Sheffield, 
north to the lake, was the boundary 
line between Huron and Cuyahoga 
counties. A special election was 
ordered for township officers, to be held 
November 9, 1818. Eiah Park, John 
Williams and Lodovick Moon, were 
elected trustees; Larkin Williams, 
township clerk; Abraham Moon, treas- 
urer. In June, 1819, Jabez Burrell, 
living in the Sheffield district, and Wil- 
bur Cahoon, were elected Justices of 
the Peace. 

Previous to 1818, the inhabitants 
called the town Xeuma, notwithstand- 
ing it was a part of Dover. In Decem- 
ber, 1824, upon petition of forty citi- 
zens, the name of the town was changed 



from Troy to Avon, by the commis- 
sioners of Lorain county. In 1818, the 
first school-house was built, near the 
center of the town, and in the fall of 
that year, Larkin A. Williams opened 
the first school to the youth of the lew 
settlers of the town. 



Elyria. 

Town No. G, in range 17, (Elyria), 
at the draft, in April 1807, was drawn 
by Justin Ely, Roger Newbury, Jona- 
than Brace, Elijah White, Enoch Per- 
kins, a company composed of Roger 
Newbury and others, John II. Buell 
and Jonathan D wight. They also drew 
tract 3, in the 19th range, annexed to 
the town to equalize it. These lands 
were apart; d and divided between the 
owners, at the September term of the 
Supreme Court, in Portage county, in 
1816. The south part of the town, 
about one-third of the whole, was set 
off to Justin Ely; the central part to 
Elijah White; 2,100 acres north of 
White's, to Jonathan Brace; and the 
remainder to Perkins and Newbury. 
White conveyed to Justin Ely, and 
Justin Ely to his son Heman Ely, who 
purchased the Brace tract, making him 
the owner of 12,500 acres, in a solid 
body. In 1816, Heman Ely, accom- 
panied by no one, left his home in 
Springfield, Massachusetts, to visit the 
lands of his father, soon to become his, 
in the above numbered town. In due 
time he arrived, and took up his abode, 
while here, at the hotel of Captain 
Moses Eldred, in Ridgeville, about two 
miles east of the river. During the 
season, he engaged Jedediah Hubbell 
and a Mr. Shepard, of Newburgh, to 
erect a saw-mill and grist-mill, on the 
east branch of the river, near the foot 
of the present Broad street, and in the 
fall of that year, returned to Massachu- 
setts. The erections contracted for, 
were made during the winter of 1S16-17. 
In January, Roderick Ashley, Edwin. 
Bush and James Porter, arrived from 
West Springfield, with axes on their 



22 



1 1 1 STORIC AL ADDRESS 



shoulders, prepared to grapple with the 
forest overhanging tin- Black fiver. 
In February, 1817, Mr. Ely, Artemus 
Beehe, Ehenezer Lane, Luther Lane, 
Miss Ann Snow, ami a colored boy 
called Ned, left Massachusetts for Ohio, 
and in March, joined the company that 
came on in the winter. Of this com- 
pany, Artemus Beehe, venerable in his 
years, and venerated for a life of great 
usefulness, i> the only one surviving. 
Ebenezer Lane, afterward, and for 
many years, occupied with much dis- 
tinction, a place upon the bench of the 
Supreme Court of the Stat.'. 

The party, on their arrival, took up 
their abode in a log house, near the 
present residence of lion. Heman Ely. 
This was built the previous year by Mr. 
l'.l\ , ami was the first building of any 
kind erected in the town. Previous, 
however, to its occupancy, and in 
November, 1816, a family by the name 
of Beach took up their residence in the 
western part of the town. Geoge Dug- 
lass and Gersham Danks, arrived in 
April, 1S17. Fest us Cooley arrived from 
Massachusetts May 29, having made 
the entire distance on foot, and on the 
next day, took charge of the mills 
on the river. There were now, at 
least, eleven persons here, and work 
was at once commenced in earnest. 
The first framed building wa-theone 
occupied during the first season, for a 
joiner shop, and thereafter, for many 
years, for a store. Edmund West 
opened the first store in 1818. The 
second framed building was for the re- 
sidence of Mr. Ely. It is now occu- 
pied by his soii Heman, as the old home- 
stead. At the raising, as was custom* 
ary in those times, men from many 
miles away, were present, to put 
their shoulders to the bent, and 
assist their neighbor in providing a 
habitation. All were considered neigh- 
bors within a distance Of twenty miles. 
While buildings were being erected', 
the forest was beingfelled. Clark Eld- 
red, Esq., then twenty years of age, in 
1816, upon Mr. Ely's first visit here, 
entered intoacontract with him for the 
purchase of lot No. L6, two and a half 



mile- west of the river: and during the 
winter of 1816-17, commenced to clear 
the ground, upon which he spent nearly 
a life. This was the first chopping in 
the neighborhood, in L817, the survey 
of the township am! village was com- 
menced by Joshua Henshaw,a skillful 
surveyor, and continued until complet- 
ed. ;in the fall Of 1817, Heman Ely 
and the two Lanes returned to Massa- 
chusetts, and spent the m ost of the win- 
ter/" In October, 1818, Mr. Ely again 
visited the east; was made happy while 
there [by his marriage to .Mis> Celia 
Belden, returned to Elj'ria, and directed 
renewed energies to the development 
of the town. The first school house 
was built in 1819, of logs, just east of 
the river: and for years it served the 
double purpose of a school house and a 
house for religious worship. Not far 
distant, and in the same year, Mr. 
Chester Wright erected a distillery, one 
of the most flourishing institutions of 
pioneer times. The first village lot 
sold was to Artemus Beebe and George 
Douglas, co-partners in mechanical la- 
bor. The consideration paid was *::■„>. 
The lot is opposite of Heman Ely's. 
The house standing there was built in 
1818. It was used by Mr. Beebe for a 
hotel for a great many years. Major 
Calvin Hoadley of Columbia, in the 
same year, being employed by Mr Ely 
so to do, built a bridge over the east 
branch of the Black river. 

As elsewhere remarked, on the llth 
day of November, 1811, it, was ordered 
by the Commissioners of Cuyahoga 
county that township No. 7 in the 15th, 
Kith and 17th Ranges, ami all of No. 7 
in Range 18, east of Black River, viz.: 
the present town-hips of Dover, Avon, 
Sheffield, and a part of Black River 
township, be incorporated into a separ- 
ate township by the name of Dover; 
and on the 12th of March, 1812, it was 
further ordered by the Board, that all 
that tract of land lying west of the 
town of Dover, and west of township 
No. <'. in the Kith Range, and east ot the 
east line of the fire Lands, so called, 
and north of township No. ."> in Ranges 
17,18 and 19, be attached to said township 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



23 



of Dover. This order attached the 
territory now comprising Elyria, Am- 
herst, Brownhelm, and most of Black- 
River township, to Dover. It is how- 
ever of little value, other than as an 
historic fact, that the town was so at- 
tached, as there were no white settlers 
here at the time to reap any benefit from 
the connection. In 1815, this relation 
was severed. The organization of 
Huron county detached the town from 
its former connection with territory 
lying east and north. 

In February, 1817, the township of 
Black River was ordered organized by 
the Commissioners of Hur,on county. 
Their action declared that township Xo. 
6, and all of Xo. 7, in Huron county, 
in Range 18, with all the hind thereto 
attached in Huron county, east of the 
Fire lands, should be set oft* from the 
township of Vermillion, and organized 
into a separate township by the name 
of Black River. It would seem from 
this order and description that Elyria 
was included, as it was attached to Xo. 
G, (Amherst), and was in Huron county, 
and lay east of the Fire Lands. On the 
20th of October, 1819, the township of 
Elyria, comprisi-ng towns Xo. 5 and 
in Range 17, (Carlisle and Elyria), was 
set off into a township by the same au- 
thority. It was named after its founder, 
by adding to his name the suffix ria. 
The two towns remained united for 
purposes of civil administration until 
June, 1822. The first election was par- 
ticipated in by the electors of both 
towns, and took place on the first .Mon- 
day of April, 1820. The names of the 
first officers are not ascertainable. 

In May, 1S18, a post office was estab- 
lished, and on 23d of that month Mr. 
Ely was appointed Post Master, and 
continued in the office until April, 1833, 
when he was succeeded by John 8. Mat- 
teson. After the act forming the county 
had been passed by the Legislature, in 
1822, and previous to its organization in 
1824 the question of the location of a 
county seat became one of no inconsid- 
erable interest. 

The inhabitants of the three town- 
hips ot Black River, Sheffield and 



Elyria, were respectively solicitous to 
secure it. A committee of disinterested 
persons was appointe 1 by the Legisla- 
ture to examine into the merits of the 
rival claims, and into the public conven- 
ience and welfare, having respect to the 
future needs of the people, as well as 
the present. In February, 1823, they 
made their appearance here, and by 
Mr. Artemus Beebe were conveyed to 
Black River and Sheffield, and, after 
examining the three points, selected 
Elyria as the Seat of Justice. It is not 
improbable that a promise by Mr. Ely 
to furnish a temporary court house and 
jail, for use until the county should 
erect county buildings, and to donate 
$2000 towards the erection ot a new 
court house, operated as an inducement 
to the selection made. The county seat 
selected, Mr. Ely, in fulfilment of his 
promise, proceeded at once to erect the 
court house. Lt may yet be seen, per- 
forming the humble, y«*t honorable, of- 
fice of a workshop, in the rear of S near- 
er ct Waldeek's furniture store. It was 
erected on Cheapside corner, and ussd 
for the purpose for which it was de- 
signed until 1828, when the erection of 
the court house now upon the public 
square rendered its further use, for 
county purposes, no longer necessary. 

It was subsequently used for school 
and religious purposes. The jail was 
built a short distance south-east of the 
present Court House. The family of 
R. W. Pomeroy, Esq., has been for some 
years confined in it, on 3d street, with 
tin- privilige, however, to go at large 
without recognizance or bail. On the 
22d day of February, 1822, Heman Ely 
dedicated to the inhabitants of the town- 
ship the public park, lying between 
Broad and South streets, and placed the 
title in Edmund AVest in trust for 
their benefit. He also conveyed to 
West in trust for the use of the county, 
for county buildings, if accepted and 
used for that purpose, eight rods of 
ground by twelve, where the Court 
House now stands, and the remainder 
of the back square he conveyed to the 
town for the benefit of its inhabitants. 
These gifts of Mr. Ely to the town, 



24 



BISTORICAL ADDRESS 



were followed at a Inter, ami more re- 
cent date, by oue from his son Charles 
Arthur Ely, the munificence of which 
i- only equaled by the liberality and 
large-heartedness which inspired it. 
The Elyiau Library is a monument that 
will ever keep fresh in the hearts of 
the people the memory of its generous 
and lamented Founder. 



Wellington. 

Wellington, town No. :s, Range 18, 
Irawn together with 4,000 acres, 
in Tract 7 in Brighton, annexed to 
equalize it. by Ephraim Root and dames 
Ross. They -old tlie tow a to Frederick 
Hamlin, James Adams, Francis Her- 
rick, and Harmon Kingsbury, of Berk- 
shire county, Massachusetts; two of 
these, Adams and Kingsbury, never 
became residents of the town. In the 
Spring of L818, the settlement of the 
town was commenced. Ephraim A. 
W ilcox, John Clifford, Charles Sweet, 
and .Joseph Wilson,of Berkshire county, 
Massachusetts, and William Welling, 
Of Montgomery county, X. Y., reached 
Grafton in February of that year, and 
in March following cut their path 
through to Wellington. They made an 
opening to the sunlight at the centre of 
the town, and at once built a log 
cabin for habitation. They carried a 
few blankets, and bed ticks, filling the 
ticks with dry leaves. The bedstead 
was constructed by driving four crot- 
Ched .-takes in the ground, laying pi les 
from stake to Stake, and placing white 
oak shakes from pole to pole. I pon this 
structure they placed their leafy bed, 
and upon this bed their weary limbs. 
Having provided a dwelling, th 
once commenced to clear the forest. As 
often as once a week two of the number 
went to Grafton, a distance of ten miles, 
to get their bread baked. The number 
and ferocity Of wild animals made it 
dangerous lor one to go alone. 'I here 
being two, each constituted a body guard 

for tit** other. 

Clifford returned to Massachusetts in 

the following May. On July 4th, of 



the same year, Frederick Hamlin ar- 
rived, accompanied by the wife of Wil- 
cox, her son Theodore,CarolineWilcox, 
and Dr. D. J. Johns. Before their ar- 
rival, Wilcox had erected a log house 
on land selected by him north-we 
I In' cent re, into which he at once took 
hi- family. This was the first family 
that made its advent into the town, 
other- were soon added, among whom 
were those of John Howk, Adanson 
Howk, Whitman DeWolf, Benjamin 
Wads worth. Silas Bailey, A mo- Adams, 
Judson Wadsworth, fame- Wilson and 
Josiah Bradley. In the spring of 1820. 
the first school house was opened in 
the house of John Clifford by Caroline 
Wilcox, in which she continued to 
teach, until a log school house was 
erected on the -pot now occupied by 
the American House. The school was 
closed with a grand exhibition, the 
first entertainment of the kind that has 
been noted,given west of the Cuyahoga. 
Frederick Hamlin was one of the asso- 
ciate Judges in the county, appointed 
in 1824, upon its organization. lit' 
was succeeded in that office by his fel- 
low townsman, Dr. D. J. Johns. The 
township was organized in April, 1821. 
It was then a part of Medina county. 
Hamlin was elected a trustee : Wilcox 
a justice of the peace, and D. .1 . Johns 
township clerk. Col. Derrick had been 
a member of the Massachusetts Legisla- 
ture while a resident of Massachusetts. 
He did not remove here until 1837. 
The town was named after William 
Welling, one of the first settler-. The 
then recent achievement of the Duke of 
Wellington, on the plains of Waterloo, 
may have inspired a ready acquiescence 
in the suggested name. Welling subse- 
quently took up his residence in Medina 
county. 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



25 



Huntington. 

The town next south, No. 2, range IS, 
was drawn by Oliver Sheldon, Simeon 
Gris wold, John Cowles, Benjamin Kent, 
and others. Tract 4, in Rochester, was 
drawn with it. Sage, Skinner, Bowles, 
and others, soon became large proprie- 
tors of the town, by purchase. In the 
year that Hamlin, Wilcox, and Clifford, 
left Berkshire county, Massachusetts, 
to settle town No. 3, range 18, in the 
Connecticut Western Reserve, Joseph 
Sage, John Laborie, and others, left 
Huntington, Connecticut, for Xo. 2, of 
the same range. John Laborie, and 
wife, (the latter being the daughter of 
Mr. Sage), were the first family that 
took up its settlement in the town. 
They left in February, 1818, accom- 
panied by four boys and a girl. They 
made the route from Connecticut to 
Hudson, then in Portage county, in 
four weeks, traveling the whole distance 
in a sleigh. At Stow, they hired an ox 
team to take them through, and after 
six days of severe journey, they reached 
town No. 1, (Sullivan), then having 
but four families — settlers of the pre- 
vious year — within its borders. On the 
next day, they moved forward, and 
took possession of a log house, that had 
been built by Henry Chase There was 
an opening for a door, but nothing to 
fill or close it; no window nor chimney. 
The cracks, or openings between the 
walls, had not been chinked. They had 
one neighbor. He had just preceded 
them in settlement, and was from 
Easton, New York. Laborie, at once, 
erected a log house, and moved into it, 
and there lived for some three weeks, 
without a window, floor, or chimney. 
Their bedsteads were made of pun- 
cheons, and their beds were ticks filled 
with leaves. The boys chopped some 
poles, placed them on the joists above, 
making a chamber, and took up their 
lodging in the loft. Sage went South, 
bought some hogs, drove them home, 
butchered them, and salted them down 
in a trough. The trough cracked, the 
brine ran out, the salt lost its savor, and 



away went the pork. Mrs. Laborie 
was not not, however, to remain long, 
without female friends from her Eastern 
home. On the 20th of dune, of the 
same year, the family of Isaac Sage, ar- 
rived. In the afternoon of the day of 
their arrival, they were feasted on a 
por-pie, made of the meat of a young- 
bear. Early in the fall, there came the 
families of Oliver Rising and Daniel 
Tillotson. Benjamin Rising came with 
Oliver. In 1S22, a school-house was 
built,and Miss LoviuiaLoveland,during 
that season, taught the first school, 
having fourteen scholars, some coming 
a distance of two miles, through the 
woods. The first framed dwelling was 
built by Renel Lang. Benjamin Rising 
was the first manufacturer of the town. 
J. B. Lang, Esq., thus describes his 
manufactory: "It was a lathe, oper- 
ated by a spring -pole, for turning 
wooden bowls. A bark rope, attached 
to a long spring-pole, overhead, passing 
around the Mandrille, which was of 
wood, and attached to a treadle below. 
The treading on this, threw the block 
around, two or three times, and then 
the pole springing back, threw the 
block back, ready for another 'gouge.' " 
In August, 182J, the Commissioners 
of Medina county, to which Huntington 
then belonged, incorporated the town 
by the name it now bears. It took its 
name from Huntington, Connecticut, 
the former abiding-place of the Labories. 
The organization also embraced the 
territory now within the township of 
Rochester. An election was ordered 
for, and held upon, the first Monday of 
September. Joseph Sage, Henry K. 
Ferris, and Benjamin Banning, were 
elected trustees; Isaac Sage, township 
clerk; and David E. Hickox, treasurer. 
Joseph Sage was elected the first Justice 
of the Peace, at a special election held 
soon after. 



26 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



Brighton. 

Brighton was first settled in 1820, by 
Abner Loveland, Jr. lie took up his 
abode on tract 7. Settler No. 2, was 
Joseph Kingsbury, who settled upon 
the same tract, in the early part of 1821. 
Other families soon followed. Had the 
territory comprised by the township 
lines, been surveyed into a township, it 
would have been town 3, range 19; and 
it was so entered on the county records, 
at the date of its incorporation. It was, 
however, formed by thn Commissioners 
of Medina county, out of tract 7, a part 
of tract 6, and a part of tract 8. Lemuel 
Storrs was the original owner of all of 
tract 8. He drew it at the draft in 
connection with LaGrange, to which it 
was annexed for equalization. Four 
thousand acres in tract 7, was annexed 
to Wellington, to equalize it, and were 
drawn by Ephraim Root and James 
Ross, in connection with that township; 
and tract 6, by Peter Brooks, John Call, 
William Shaw, George Black, and Pen- 
newel Cheney. Some of these parties 
sold to, and others exchanged with, 
Tuckerman Bros., Harmon Kingsbury, 
Norton, Stocking, Deming, Hamlin, 
and Alford. Tuckerman Bros, sold to 
Levi Bliss, of Massachusetts. The town- 
ship was organized at the spring election 
of 1823. Joseph Kingsbury, Avory 
Hall, and Calvin Roice, were elected 
trustees; Leonard II. Loveland, clerk ; 
Abner Loveland, treasurer; and Abner 
Loveland, Jr., Justice of the Peace. 
There were twelve electors, just about 
the number of persons required to fill 
the offices in those days. The township 
belonged to Lorain, as then formed, 
but, with other townships, remained 
attached to Medina county, until the 
organization of Lorain was completed. 
The school-house and church soon 
followed the incorporation of the town, 
and for the observance of all things 
that concern the public order, and good 
morals, Brighton ranks among the 
highest and foremost of her sister town- 
ships. 



Eaton. 

Town 5, range 1G, at the Hartford 
drawing, became the property of Caleb 
Atwater, Turband Kirtland, Daniel 
Hoi brook, and ten others. Tract 1, 
gore 4, in range 11, was annexed to it, 
to bring it up to full value with the 
selected town. It was originally called 
Ilolbrook, and retained that name until 
1822, from the circumstance that Daniel 
Ilolbrook was a large owner of its soil. 
It was first settled in the fall of 1810, by 
Asa Morgan, Silas Wilmot, Ira B. 
Morgan, and Kbenezer Wilmot. These 
were all single men. They came from 
Waterbury, Connecticut, in the spring 
and summer, with those who took up 
their abode in Ridgeville. The} r built 
a log house, in the fall of that year, on 
the land longoccupied by Silas Wilmot, 
ami jointly occupied it, until, by a 
change in their circumstances, such 
occupancy was no longer desirable. 
By agreement, this house became the 
property of Silas Wilmot. It was the 
first erection in the town. In 1S12, 
Silas Wilmot intermarried with Chloe 
Hubbard, of Ashtabula county. They 
commenced married life in the log 
cabin on the Ridge. His, was the first, 
family that settled in the town. Soon 
after, Ira B. Morgan intermarried with 
Louisa Bronson, of Columbia, built a 
log house, just east of Wilmot's, and 
there took up his abode. His family 
was the second that took up its resi- 
dence in the town. Asa soon married, 
and settled west of Wilmot's. 

Not long after, the families of Levi 
Mills, Thuret F. Chapman, Seneca 
Andress, Meritt Osborn, A. M. Dowd, 
Dennis Palmer, Sylvester Morgan, and 
others, were added. The first school 
was taught by Julia Johnson, daughter 
of Phineas, then a resident of No. 5, 
range 10. The organization of the 
township of Ridgeville, included Eaton ; 
and the tvvs towns were embraced in 
one civil organization, until December 
3, 1822, at which time it was ordered by 
the Commissioners of Cuyahoga county, 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



27 



on the petition of the inhabitants, that 
No. 6, (5), ~ange 16, be set off into a 
township by the name of Eaton. At 
the spring election, in 1823, the re- 
quired township officers were elected, 
the township detached from Ridgeville, 
and organized for independent action. 



Carlisle. 

Carlisle, town No. 5, Range 17, was 
drawn by Joseph Perkins, John Rich- 
mond, Tracy, and Hoit, William Eld- 
ridge, John McClennan, Daniel Tiklen, 
and Jabez Adams. As before men- 
tioned, Island No. 6, then called Cun- 
ningham's, now Kelley's, consisting of 
2,747 acres, was annexed to it for the 
purpose of equalization. Those who 
drew the town, became the owners of 
that island. The first settlement in the 
town was made in the spring of 1819, 
by Samuel Brooks, from Middletowu, 
Conn. He was accompanied by Phineas 
Johnson, his wife's father, who assisted 
in selecting the spot, for their future 
home, Johnson returned to Connecti- 
cut. A log house was soon erected, and 
in it Samuel Brooks took up his abode. 
This was on the east branch of Black 
river, in the east part of the town. In 
September of that year, Hezekiah 
Brooks, a brother of Samuel, and whose 
wife was a sister of the wife of Samuel, 
and both the daughters of Phineas 
Johnson, Capt. James Brooks and fam- 
ily, together with the family of John- 
son, and the family of Riley Smith, left 
Middletowu, and after the usual tedious 
journey of about six weeks, with ox 
teams, reached Elyria. Smith and fam- 
ily remained at Elyria for awhile, and 
then went into Carlisle. The families 
of the Brookses, and Johnsons, pushed 
forward to Carlisle, and moved in with 
Samuel, and remained until other dwell- 
ing places could be provided. At about 
the same time that this settlement was 
making in the east part of the town, 
another was springing U p \ n the west- 
ern part. The families of Jamison Mur- 
ray, before then, for some time resident 



of Ridgeville, and Philo Murray, and 
Philo, jr., had taken up their residence 
on the ridge, and Obed Gibbs and fam- 
ily, and Ransom and David had settled 
further south. Soon after, the families 
of Solomon Sutliff, Chauncey Prindle, 
Bennett, Drakely, Hurd, and others, 
were added. Prindle settled at the cen- 
tre of the town. Abel Farr, and Abel 
Farr, jr., and John Bacon, were among 
the earliest residents of the town. Ju- 
lia Johnson taught the first school in 
Carlisle, as she had in Eaton and Elyria, 
She subsequently became the wife of 
Edmund West, and resided in Elyria. 

Carlisle and Elyria were, on the 20th 
day of October, 1819, organized for civil 
purposes, together by the name of Ely- 
ria. They belonged to Huron county. 
This connection was sustained and con- 
tinued until June 4th, 1822, when on 
petition of Obed Gibbs and others, No. 
5, Range 17, was detached from Elyria, 
by the Commissioners of Huron county, 
and organized into a separate township 
by the name of Carlisle. Before this 
independent organization, a part of the 
town had adquired the name of Mur- 
raysville. This was not satisfactory to 
the inhabitants away from Murray's 
Ridge Phineas Johnson wished the 
town named Berlin, after his native 
town in Connecticut. The people of the 
Ridge wanted it called Murraysville, 
and being unable to agree on either 
name, a compromise resulted in the 
selection of the name it bears. 



Amherst. 

Amherst, No. G, in Range 18, was 
drawn by Martin Sheldon, Calvin Aus- 
tin, Oliver L. Phelps, and Asahel Hath- 
away. Tract No. 2, consisting of 4,000' 
acres, in Black River, was annexed to 
equalize it. Its early history is inti- 
mately connected with that of Black 
River, and in connection with the lat- 
ter town and other adjoining territory, 
was organized in April, 1817, into a 
township by the name of Black River. 
Its incorporation and organization were 



26 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



Brighton. 

Brighton was first settled in 1820, by 
Abner Loveland, Jr. lie took up bis 
abode on tract 7. Settler No. 2, was 
Joseph Kingsbury, who settled upon 
the same tract, in the early partof 1821. 
Other families soon followed. Had the 
territory comprised by the township 
lines, been surveyed into a township, it 
would have been town 3, range 19; and 
it was so entered on the county records, 
at the date of its incorporation. It was, 
however, formed by the Commissioners 
of Medina county, out of tract 7, a part 
of tract G, and a part of tract 8. Lemuel 
Storrs was the original owner of all of 
tract 8. He drew it at the draft in 
connection with LaGrange, to which it 
was annexed for equalization. Four 
thousand acres in tract 7, was annexed 
to Wellington, to equalize it, and were 
drawn by Ephraim Root and James 
Ross, in connection with that township; 
and tract G, by Peter Brooks, John (all, 
William Shaw, George Black, and Pen- 
newel Cheney. Some of these parties 
sold to, and others exchanged with, 
Tuckerman Bros., Harmon Kingsbury, 
Norton, Stocking, Deming, Hamlin, 
and Alford. Tuckerman Bros, sold to 
Levi Bliss, of Massachusetts. The town- 
ship was organized at the spring election 
of 1823. Joseph Kingsbury, Avory 
Hall, and Calvin Roice, were elected 
trustees; Leonard H. Loveland, clerk ; 
Abner Loveland, treasurer; and Abner 
Loveland, Jr., Justice of the Peace. 
There were twelve electors, just about 
the number of persons required to fill 
the offices in those days. The township 
belonged to Lorain, as then formed, 
but, with other townships, remained 
attached to Medina county, until the 
organization of Lorain was completed. 
The school-house and church soon 
followed the incorporation of the town, 
and for the observance of all things 
that concern the public order, and good 
moral*, Brighton ranks among the 
highest and foremost of her sister town- 
ships. 



Eaton. 

Town 5, range 16, at the Hartford 
drawing, became the property of Caleb 
Atwater, Turhand Kirtland, Daniel 
llolbrook, and ten others. Tract 1, 
gore 4, in range 11, was annexed to it, 
to bring it up to full value with the 
selected town. It was originally called 
llolbrook, and retained that name until 
1822, from the circumstance that Daniel 
llolbrook was a large owner of its soil. 
It was first settled in the fall of 1810, by 
Asa Morgan, Silas Wilmot, Ira B. 
Morgan, and Ebenezer Wilmot. These 
were all single men. They came from 
Waterbury, Connecticut, in the spring 
and summer, with those who took up 
their abode in Ridgeville. They built 
a log house, in the fall of that year, on 
the land longoccupied by Silas Wilmot, 
and jointly occupied it, until, by a 
change in their circumstances, such 
occupancy was no longer desirable. 
By agreement, this house became the 
property of Silas Wilmot. It was the 
first erection in the town. In 1S12, 
Silas Wilmot intermarried with Chloe 
Hubbard, of Ashtabula county. They 
commenced married life in the log 
cabin on the Ridge. His, was the first 
family that settled in the town. Soon 
after, Ira B. Morgan intermarried with 
Louisa Bronson, of Columbia, built a 
log house, just east of Wilmot's, and 
there took up his abode. His family 
was the second that took up its resi- 
dence in the town. Asa soon married, 
and settled west of Wilmot's. 

Not long after, the families of Levi 
Mills, Thuret F. Chapman, Seneca 
Andress, Meritt Osborn, A. M. Dowd, 
Dennis Palmer, Sylvester Morgan, and 
others, were added. The first school 
was taught by Julia Johnson, daughter 
of Phineas, then a resident of No. 5, 
range 16. The organization of the 
township of Ridgeville, included Eaton ; 
and the twD towns were embraced in 
one civil organization, until December 
3, 1822, at which time it was ordered by 
the Commissioners of Cuyahoga county, 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



27 



on the petition of the inhabitants, that 
No. 6, (5), ~ange 16, be set off into a 
township by the name of Eaton. At 
the spring election, in 1823, the re- 
quired township officers were elected, 
the township detached from Kidgeville, 
and organized for independent action. 



Carlisle. 

Carlisle, town No. 5, Range 17, was 
drawn by Joseph Perkins, John Rich- 
mond, Tracy, and Hoit, William Eld- 
ridge, John McClennan, Daniel Tilden, 
and Jabez Adams. As before men- 
tioned, Island No. 6, then called Cun- 
ningham's, now Kelley's, consisting of 
2,747 acres, was annexed to it for the 
purpose of equalization. Those who 
drew the town, became the owners of 
that island. The first settlement in the 
town was made in the spring of 1819, 
by Samuel Brooks, from Middletown, 
Conn. He was accompanied by Phineas 
Johnson, his wife's father, who assisted 
in selecting the spot, for their future 
home, Johnson returned to Connecti- 
cut. A log house was soon erected, and 
in it Samuel Brooks took up his abode. 
This was on the east branch of Black 
river, in the east part of the town. In 
September of that year, Hezekiah 
Brooks, a brother of Samuel, and whose 
wife was a sister of the wife of Samuel, 
and both the daughters of Phineas 
Johnson, Capt. James Brooks and fam- 
ily, together with the family of John- 
son, and the family of Riley Smith, left 
Middletown, and after the usual tedious 
journey of about six weeks, with ox 
teams, reached Elyria. Smith and fam- 
ily remained at Elyria for awhile, and 
then went into Carlisle. The families 
of the Brookses, and Johnsons, pushed 
forward to Carlisle, and moved in with 
Samuel, and remained until other dwell- 
ing places could be provided. At about 
the same time that this settlement was 
making in the east part of the town, 
another was springing up in the west- 
ern part. The families of Jamison Mur- 
ray, before then, for some time resident 



of Ridgeville, and Philo Murray, and 
Philo, jr., had taken up their residence 
on the ridge, and Obed Gibbs and fam- 
ily, and Ransom and David had settled 
further south. Soon after, the families 
of Solomon Sutliff, Chauncey Prindle, 
Bennett, Drakely, Hurd, and others, 
were added. Prindle settled at the cen- 
tre of the town. Abel Farr, and Abel 
Farr, jr., and John Bacon, were among 
the earliest residents of the town. Ju- 
lia Johnson taught the first school in 
< ail isle, as she had in Eaton and Elyria, 
She subsequently became the wife of 
Edmund West, and resided in Elyria. 

Carlisle and Elyria were, on the 20th 
day of October, 1819, organized for civil 
purposes, together by the name of Ely- 
ria. They belonged to Huron county. 
This connection was sustained and con- 
tinued until June 4th, 1822, when on 
petition of Obed Gibbs and others, No. 
5, Range 17, was detached from Elyria, 
by the Commissioners of Huron county, 
and organized into a separate township 
by the name of Carlisle. Before this 
independent organization, a part of the 
town had adquired the name of Mur- 
raysville. This was not satisfactory to 
the inhabitants away from Murray's 
Ridge Phineas Johnson wished the 
town named Berlin, after his native 
town in Connecticut. The people of the 
Ridge wanted it called Murraysville, 
and being unable to agree on either 
name, a compromise resulted in the 
selection of the name it bears. 



Amherst. 

Amherst, No. 6, in Range 18, was 
drawn by Martin Sheldon, Calvin Aus- 
tin, Oliver L. Phelps, and Asahel Hath- 
away. Tract No. 2, consisting of 4,000 
acres, in Black River, was annexed to 
equalize it. Its early history is inti- 
mately connected with that of Black 
River, and in connection with the lat- 
ter town and other adjoining territory, 
was organized in April, 1817, into a 
township bjr the name of Black River. 
Its incorporation and organization were 



30 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



for the manual labor department of the 
Institute, and for the settlement of a 
sustaining colony on better terms than 
elsewhere. Its grand object is the dif- 
fusion of useful science, sound moral- 
ity and true religion, among the grow- 
ing multitudes of the Mississippi Val- 
ley. One of its objects was the elevation 
of female character, and included within 
its general design, was the education of 
the common people with the higher 
classes, in such manner, as suits the na- 
ture of republican institutions.'' How 
well it has accomplished this grand ob- 
ject, and carried out this general design, 
its history already written, affords the 
most convincing proof. Planted in a 
wilderness, seemingly the abode of 
desolation, its nearest neighbor three 
miles away, it struggled on with opposi- 
tion and derision, until its accomplished 
work, sdves it rank among the leading 
institutions of the land. It has gradu- 
ated upward of sixteen hundred per- 
sons, and afforded instruction to about 
seventeen thousand. It has the happy 
satisfaction of having survived the 
odium, which attached to its defense of 
those principles of freedom and equal- 
ity, which received their crowning 
triumph, in the issue, and achievements 
of the late struggle for the maintain- 
ance of American Independence. 



Pcnfield. 

Township No. 3, in Range 17, became 
by the draft the property of Caleb At- 
water. He gave it to his six daughters, 
Lucy Day, Ruth Cook, Abigal Andrews, 
Mary Beebe, Sarah Merrick, and the 
wife of Judge Cook. The first explora- 
tion of the township, by persons seek- 
ing Western lands, was in the fall of 
by Peter Penfield and Calvin 
Spencer, then resident of eastern New 
York. They wen- assisted in their ex- 
amination of the township by James 
Ingersoll, of Grafton, after which they 
returned to the East. In 1819, Peter 
Peufield again came, and selected land, 
employed Seth C. Ingersoll to erect a 
Log house upon it, and returned home. 



Ingersoll completed the dwelling in the 
fall of that year. In February then next, 
Peter Penlield and Lothrop Penfield ar- 
rived, and in connection with Alanson, 
a son of Peter, already on the ground, 
and who remained during the winter 
preceding and taught school in Shellield, 
commenced to open the forest four 
miles from the nearest inhabitant. In 
the fall of 1820, or early winter, Tru- 
man Penfield arrived with his family, 
the first that came, and moved into the 
log house built by Ingersoll. In the 
following March, the family of Peter 
Penfield, which up to this time, had 
remained East, arrived, and joined in 
the occupancy of the log cabin, until 
another could be erected. Calvin Spen- 
cer came again in 1821, selected land, 
engaged Peter Penfield to build a house 
upon it, and returned to New York. 

In the fall of 1821, Samuel Knapp 
came, examined the land, made a selec- 
tion, and returned home, and remained 
until the fall of 1822, when with his 
family he took up his abode in the in- 
fant settlement, upon the lands so se- 
lected. Other families soon followed. 
David P. Merwin arrived in 1824. Cal- 
vin Spencer moved his family into the 
house prepared for him in the spring of 
the same year. The family of Stephen 
K napp arrived about the same time; and 
the family of Benjamin E. Merwin in 
1825. The township was organized at 
an election in 1S2.">, held at the dwelling 
house of Truman Penfield, having been 
previously ordered by the Commission- 
ers of Medina county, of which county 
the town then formed a part. The offi- 
cers elected were Samuel Knapp, Samuel 
Root and Peter Penfield, trustees; Tru- 
man Penfield, clerk ; Lothrop Penfield, 
tr asurer. In 182(i, Benjamin E. Mer- 
win was elected Justice of the Peace. 
Previous to its incorporation, the in- 
habits had agreed upon Richland as 
the name of the town, and petitioned 
the Commissioners for an order of in- 
corporation by that name. But the 
Commissioners ascertaining there were 
other localities having the name of 
Richland, rejected the application, and 
named it Penfield, in honor of the first 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



31 



settler. Previous to the organization 
of the town, it had heen annexed to 
Grafton, and in connection with that 
town enjoyed township privileges, until 
it was set apart to act under independ- 
ent organization. 

The first school was taught by Mis s 
Clarissa Kising, of Huntington, in the 
private dwelling of Calvin Spencer. 
The usual facilities for teaching were, 
however, soon provided by the erec- 
tion of a log school-house, in the fall 
of 1828, and a teacher for the winter 
supplied, in the person of our respected 
townsman, Geo. R. Starr. 



Sullivan . 

In 1828, the township of Sullivan, 
"No. 1, range 18, embracing the terri- 
tory now included in Sullivan and 
Troy, was organized by the Commis- 
sioners of Lorain county, and town No. 
1, range 17, now Homer, was annexed 
to it for judicial purposes only. 



township by the name of Troy. Upon 
the formation of Summit county, in 
March, 1840, Spencer and Homer were 
severed from Lorain and re-attached to 
Medina; and upon the formation of 
Ashland county, in February, 1846, 
Sullivan and Troy were detached from 
Lorain, and were incorporated into that 
county. 



Spencer. 

In December, 1831. the inhabitants of 
No. 2, range 17, applied for township 
organization, by the name of Spencer- 
field. The " field " was dropped, and 
the town was incorporated by the name 
of Spencer. 



Homer, 
In March, 1833, town 1, range 17, 
previously annexed to Sullivan, was 
detached and organized into a town- 
ship by the name of Richmond. Sub- 
sequently, the name was changed to 
Homer. 

Troy. 

In June, 1835, all of the 19th range, 
south of Rochester, together with the 
surplus land lying west, was detached 
from Sullivan, and organized into a 



LaGrange. 
LaGrange, town No. 4, range 17, with 
3,700 acres in tract 8, range 19, now in 
Brighton and Camden, was drawn by 
Henry Champion and Lemuel Starrs. 
Champion owning two-thirds and Storrs 
one-third, of the purchase. Champion 
conveyed his part of the town to his 
son-in-law, Elizur Goodrich, who ex- 
changed part of it, with Nathan Clarke, 
Roger Phelps, Noah Holcomb and James 
Pelton, for lands owned by them in 
Jefferson county, New York, where 
they formerly resided. The three last 
named, in the fall of 1825, visit the 
ground to form a judgment of its merits 
for farming purposes, and returned 
home. Goodrich, also, exchanged lands 
with David Rockwood, Asa Rockwood, 
Fairchild Hubbard, Joseph Robbins, 
Sylvester Merriam and Levi Johnson. 
On November 14, 1825, Nathan Clarke 
made the first settlement of the town. 
During the next season, the families of 
Noah Holcomb, Sylvester Merriam, 
James Disbrow and Joseph A. Graves, 
arrived for permanent settlement, and 
a new abiding place. In the latter part 
of the same year, Fairchild Hubbard 
moved in from Brighton, where he had 
remained during the season of 1826. 
Population so increased, that in the 
fall of that year there were over sixty 
persons, resident in the town, with more 
continually coming. 

At the June session of the Commis- 
sioners of Lorain county, 1824, La- 
Grange, then known as town 4, range 
17. was attached to Carlisle for civil 
and judicial purposes, and remained so 
attached until its separate organization 
in 1827. Immigration had been so 



32 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



rapid, and of such number-, during the 
eighteen months succeeding the advenl 
of the first family, as to necessitate an 
independent township organization. 
lii January, L827, ir was detached from 
Carlisle and incorporated into a town- 
ship by the name of LaGrange. The 
first election for township officers was 
held in April of that year, at the dwell- 
ing house "i Fairchild Hubbard. Eber 
W. Hubbard afterward one of the 
associate judges of the Court of 
CommOn Pleas, was elected town- 
ship clerk; .Tamos Disbrow, treas- 
urer: Noah Holuomb, Noah Kellogg 
and Fairchild Hubbard, trustees, and 
1-dier W. Hubbard, Justice of the 
Peace. 



Henrietta. 
Henrietta was organized during the 
same year. In November, 1S2(>, the 
inhabitants in the south part of Brown- 
helm, petitioned the commissioners to 
take oil' the three south tiers of lots, 
andattach them to unsettled lands lying 
south, and incorporate the same into a 
township. The petitioners took occa- 
sion to say, that it was seven miles from 
the Lake Shore, to the south line of the 
township; that there had. been but little 
Communication between the north and 
south settlements; and that it was ex- 
tremely inconvenient for some part of 
the people, to attend on the public busi- 
ness of the town. The prayer of the 
petition was rejected; but at the same 
on of the commissioners it was or- 
dered that tracts 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 1 1, 15, in 
range 19, with surplus lots lying west 
of said tracts, be erected into a town- 
ship, by the name of Henrietta, and be 
attached to Brighton for judicial pur- 
is. This township, as thus formed, 
included a Large part of the present 
township of Camden, and a little more, 
than two-thirds of the present town- 
ship of Henrietta. As organized, it 
was not satisfactory to the inhabitants 
in the south part of Brownhelm, and 
in February, ^-7, upon their peti- 
tion, two tiers of lots, being over a mile 



iii width, weredetached from the south 
part of Brownhelm, and annexed to 
Henrietta; and tract, Xo. 9, was de- 
tached from Henrietta, ami annexed 
to Brighton. An election was ordered 
for township officers, which took place 
in April, L827, Calvin Leonard, Simeon 
Durand and Smith Hancock, were 
elected trustees; Justin Abbot, clerk; 
Joseph Powers, treasurer; Edward 
Durand, Justice of the Peace. In 
March, 1830, lots SG, 87, 88, were 
detached from Brownhelm, and annexed 
to Henrietta; and in .March, 1835, lots 
81, 82, 83, SI and 85, the remainder of 
the tier, were added. The first settle- 
ment was on the Brownhelm territory. 
The first occupants were Calvin 1. 
ard, Simeon Durand, Ruloff Andress, 
Joseph Swift, John Denison, Uriah 
Hancock, Jedediah Holcomb, Almon 
Holcomb, Obed Holcomb, Joseph 
Power-, the Abbots and possibly others. 
They took up their abode there, in 1817, 
about the same rime that the Shore set. 
tlement was made. After the organiza- 
tion of the town in JS27, a postoffice 
was established on the hill, and 'Squire 
Abbot appointed first postmaster. 



Pittsfielrt. 

The first white inhabitants of No. 4, 
range IS, now Pittsfield, were a man 
by tin 1 name of Barker, and his two 
sons. He cleared a small spot on the 
northeast corner of lot '.'<;, and there 
built a small log house. This was as 
early as 1813. Barker enlisted and 
went into the .Military Service of the 
United States, in the war of 1812. His 
two sons remained a while, and left. 
Some surveyor's instruments were 
found in their cabin, a few yeai-- after. 
In the Draft at Hartford, in 1807, the 
town was drawn by Hbenezer Devotion, 
William Perkins, and eight others. 

Tract 11, in Camden, range L9, consisting 

Of :!,< 00 acre-, was annexed to the low n, 

to make it equal in value to the others 
to be drawn. In 1819, the township 
was surveyed into lots, and divided 
between those who had purchased it. 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



33 



Milton Whitney became a large owner. 
In 1820, he came from the East, made 
an examination of the land, and en- 
tered into an arrangement with Thomas 
and Jerry Waite, sons of Thomas Waite, 
then of Russia, by which they were to 
settle in town No. 4, range IS, upon his 
giving them fifty acres of land, each. 
This he did, and in the spring of 1821, 
the two Waites moved into the town, 
and took up their residence there. They 
were the first permanent settlers in 
Pitts held. 

Immediately following the settlement 
of the Waites, they were joined by 
Henry, and Chauncey Remington, 
upon a gift of one hundred acres of 
land to each of them, by Whitney. The 
next settler was a minister by the name 
of Smith. Mr. Norton, soon thereafter, 
moved into the town. He built the first 
framed barn erected in the town. The 
town filled up quite slowly; so much 
so, that there was but one framed house 
in the town, as late as 1834. The town 
was early annexed to Wellington, for 
township purposes, and remained so 
annexed, until December, 1831, when, 
on petition of the inhabitants, it was 
detached, and incorporated into a town- 
ship by the name of Pittsfield, taking 
its name from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 
where many of its land-owners resided. 
In April, 1832, the selection of town- 
ship officers completed its organization 
as a separate township. 



Camden. 

In March, 1835, an order incorporat- 
ing Camden township, was made by the 
Commissioners of the county. The 
prolongation of the line between 
Russia and Pittsfield, west to range 20, 
was its northern boundary, and the ex- 
tension west to the same range, of the 
line between Pittsfield and Wellington, 
its southern. It was carved out of 
Brighton and Henrietta. Tracts 9, and 
10, and parts of lots 8, and 11, in range 
19, together with surplus lands lying 
west, formed the material for its terri- 
torial composition. Tract 9, by the 
draft at Hartford, became annexed to 



Grafton, and was drawn by Lemuel 
Storrs. Tract 10, annexed to Dover, 
by Nehemiah Hubbard and Joshua 
Storrs. Tract 11, annexed to Pittsfield, 
was drawn by Henry Champion and 
Lemuel Storrs. It has before been 
remarked, that none of the 19th range, 
south of Brownhelm, as originally 
formed, was surveyed into townships, 
but was all surveyed into Tracts, which 
were wholly originally annexed to 
other towns, for purposes of equaliza- 
tion. Leonard Clark, with his family, 
accompanied by his wife's father, Moses 
Pike, made the first occupancv of land 
now forming the town of Camden. 
This was in 1829. This family lived 
there but a few years before moving 
West. In March, 1833, the families of 
William Scott, and John Johnston, took 
up their settlement on tract 11. These 
were the first families that permanently 
settled, at least in that part of the town, 
then constituting a part of Henrietta. 
Later in the season, a school-house was 
" thrown up, " by the inhabitants, and 
Mrs. Johnston gathered the few chil- 
dren, and opened the first school. Other 
settlers soon joined, among whom were 
those of Waugh, Clark, Douglas, Wash- 
burn, Cyrenius, Holcomb, Wells, Lee, 
Wilcox, Smith, and Eddy. On the Gth 
of April, 1835, the first election for 
township officers, was held in the log 
school house, and resulted in the choice 
of Azel Washburn, Robert Douglas, and 
Obed Holcomb, trustees; John Cyrenius, 
clerk; David Wells, treasurer. Gideon 
Waugh was the first Justice of the 
Peace. 



Rochester. 

At the same session, that Camden was 
set apart and organized into a township,, 
lots 1, to 15, inclusive of tract 3, with 
all of tracts 4, and 5, and a part of tract 
6, in range 19, together with surplus 
lots, 9, to 14, inclusive, lying west of 
the range, with a part of surplus lot 8 r 
were united, and formed into the town- 
ship of Rochester. Tract No. 5, was 
drawn by Uriah Holmes, in connection 



:;i 



HISTORICAL ADDRKSS 



with the town of Litchfield, Medina 
county; ami nan I, by Oliver Sheldon, 
and others annexed to Huntington. 
The first settlement was made by Elijah 
T. Banning, in April, 1831. Between 
1831, and 1835, Benjamin ('. Perkins, 
William Sbepard, John Conaut, John 
Baird, Samuel Smith, Luther Blair, 
Joseph Hadley, Nehemiah Tucker, M . 
W. 1". Fay, Erasius Knapp, Obijah W. 
Babcock, John Peet. ami others, some 
with, ami some without, families, were 
joined t<> the sell lenient. 

The township was organized <>n the 
6th of April. 1835, l>y the election of 
John Conant, Joseph Hadley, and Ne- 
hemiah Tucker, trustees; M. L.Blair, 
township clerk; Benjamin ('.Perkins, 
treasurer. The organization of Cam- 
den ami Rochester, in March, is;!."), and 
Troy in June following, completed the 
organization of the townships of the 
entire county. At the organization of 
the county, there were not to exceed 
ten organized townships. At the spring 
election, L824, Asahel Osborne, John S. 
Reid, and Benjamin Bacon, were elect- 
ed ( lommissioners for t he county ; Sher- 
man Minott, auditor; ami Josiah Har- 
ris, sheriff. In the fail of the same year 
they were re-elected. At this election 
there were three hundred ami thirty- 
two votes cast. The first term of the 
Court of Common Pleas was held on 
the 24th of May. 1824, by Hon. George 
Tod, President of the Third Circuit, 
and Moses Eld red, Henry Brown, and 
Frederick Hamlin, his associates. Wol- 
sey Wells, the only resident attorney, 
was appointed to prosecute the ideas of 
the State, ami also clerk of the Court 
for the time being. He served as clerk 
only one day, when Ebenezer Whiton 
was appointed and assumed the duties 
of the office. Edward Durand was ap- 
pointed surveyor for the county. Court 
continued its session for three day- and 
finally adjourned. 

At the ftrsl -••--ion of the Commis- 
sioners, Edmund West was appointed 
County Treasurer; and at the next ses- 
sion, John Pearson was appointed < ol- 
lector of State ami County taxes. This 
completed the official organization of 



the county. Literary and educational 
societies sprang up at an early day, and 
supplied the means for mental culture 
and improvement In 1828, the Lorain 
County Library Society, was incor- 
porated. Heman Ely, Reuben Mussey, 
and others, were incorporated by the 
name of the " Elyria High School," in 
18.'H. This school flourished for some 
time, under the Superintendence and 
tuition of the Rev. John Montieth. In 
1834, John Montieth, and his associates, 
were incorporated by the name of the 
" Elyria Lyceum. " In March, 1835, 
Daniel L. Johns, and others, were incor- 
porated by the name of the *' Wellington 
Social Library Company." These were 
private corporations. These societies, 
and others of a similar character, served a 
good purpose, and were well supported 
until a more general diffusion of the 
means of education and mental culture 
obviated tne necessity of their continued 
existence. 

The time I have consumed, reminds 
me that 1 am wearying your patience. 
1 will detain you but a moment longer. 
One of the most pleasant features of 
tiiis day's celebration, is the coming 
together, and the warm greetings, of 
old friends. It is like the reunion of 
the family at the Golden Wedding, 
where gratulations are interchanged, 
and the recollections and pleasures of 
youth are revived. We are happy in 
having with us, so many, then young, 
whose immediate ancestors were the 
ones, who, upwards of a half century 
ago, exchanged their homes, in New 
England, for a life in this far-off land. 
They were the advance-guard of the 
Km [lire of the West. Little do we, of a 
later day, know of their trials and 
sufferings; little of the self-denial, the 
self-sacrifice, the longing for homes left 
behind, and the society of former days, 
of those, who pioneered the way, to this 
New Land of promise. Their hardships 
were ii. n those oi the battle-field, but 
those incident to a life, at the outpost of 
civilization. The most of them have 
gone to the rewards of a work well 
accomplished. Many of them are still 
here, survived to witness the Centennial 



OF LORAIN COUNTY. 



35 



Anniversary of their Country's Inde- 
pendence, ana to join in its acclama- 
tions; enjoying the fullest and freest 
civil and religious liberty, surrounded 
by a thickly populated community in 
the enjoyment of like ireedom, with 
the promise of its continuance forever. 
But, as we look back to the day when 
they first made their advent here, and 
note the intervening progress of events, 
and the great growth of the people, and 
of the things which denote their pros- 
perity and happiness, whatchanges have 
been wrought! The same sky above, 
and the same earth beneath, are still 
here. The same rock-Dound rivers, and 
the same beautiful blue lake expanding 
upon the North, are also here. But 
what else, that has not undergone 
change? The dense forest has melted 
away, and its savage inhabitants, are 
gone. The land then in the wildness 
of nature, is covered with cultivated 
and fruitful fields, with thriving and 
growing villages, with cities of great 
wealth and architectural beauty. There 
is one, but a short distance away, whose 
surpassing beauty is equalled only by 
the splendid promise of its future. 
There are facilities for carrying, for 
transit, and intercommunication, that 
bring remote neighborhoods into friend- 
ly intercourse and seeming proximity. 
There has been an accumulation of 
industries, and industrial products, sur- 
passing all expectations. Institutions 
of learning, spreading a knowledge of 
the arts and sciences, and affording the 
means of high intellectual culture and 
scholarship, long since sprung forth, 
and found a welcome habitation and 
seat, in this New England of the West. 
These are some of the Iruits of that 
energy, and courage, brought hither by 



the Pioneers of that early day. The 
germ of New England culture, those 
influences that soften, elevate, and 
refine her social life, were brought. 
They brought the Bible, the church, 
and the school — the inevitable attend- 
ants, and sure security, of an enlight- 
ened future. Some of them brought 
what DeTocqueville names, as the 
surest guaranty of equality among men 
— poverty and misfortune. But good 
neighborhood, common sympathy, and 
fraternal regard, mitigated the rigors 
of the one, and supplied* the needs, and 
necessities, of the other. They brought 
with them a deep love of Liberty, an 
immovable trust in God, a Patriotism 
inspired afresh by the glories and 
achievements of the Revolution; and 
accepting, yet defying, the hardships 
and privations that threatened, they 
came, bearing aloft the Emblem of their 
Country's Liberty, and led forth to this 
benighted wilderness and wild, the 
advancing hosts of civilization. 

Let us, my friends, rejoice in the 
example, in the courage, in the patri- 
otism, and worth, of those hardy 
Pioneers. Let us rejoice that we are 
the honored recipients of the blessings 
they secured and transmitted. Let us 
rejoice in the happy and glorious 
future, of which the present is so lull 
of promise. And above all, let us 
rejoice in a country, whose progres, 
during the century, up the highway of 
nations, commands alike the wonder 
and the admiration of the world ; and 
whose crowning glory, is, that before 
the century's close, it extended the asgis 
of its protection, and imparted the full 
fruition of its liberty, to the humblest 
citizen of the land. 



k 



